


stars are on the ground (when you're dying in l.a.)

by annawritesthings



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: A little, AU!Boys are alive, AU!Julie is the Phantom, Aged up?, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, EVERYONE is here - Freeform, Everyone swears, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, M/M, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, because they are teenagers, carrie and trevor aren't related, some people who are alive are dead, some people who were dead are now alive, the updates to this will be slow af, touchy-feely boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:53:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27458299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annawritesthings/pseuds/annawritesthings
Summary: Almost simultaneously, three objects - a green guitar pick, a drumstick and a patent black shoe, to be precise - sail through Julie's head.She raises her head, body still flickering slightly where the projectiles had disappeared through her and shoots a glare at the three boys. The blonde on the drums looks sheepish but determined, drawing back his arm to throw his second stick at her. The other two are moving towards the drum kit, towards each other and the third boy, almost protectively. Julie snorts, she is 5'4'' and 110 pounds soaking wet, what did the boys have to be scared of?"First off, very rude."A 'the boys are alive/Julie dies and becomes a Phantom' AU.
Relationships: Alex & Flynn & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 127
Kudos: 423





	1. Chapter 1

**1995**

Julie brushes the frustrated tears from her eyes with the back of her hand before not-so-gently smacking her forehead on the smooth surface of the piano. She adds another mark to her mental tally as she bathes in the solitude of the room and the coolness of the piano surface. Day 342. Three hundred and forty-two days that she had been unable to play more than two notes on the piano, and 343 days since she had last sung.

Julie almost laughs at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. Well, she would laugh if there was anything remotely funny to be found but, even Nick, with his dark sense of humour, had given up trying to find the funny in her life these days. Julie was tired and more than a little frustrated with herself. Not that she was having much success expressing this to anyone. Her teachers thought she had let her 15 minutes of fame go to her head (Julie scoffs, she’d give that experience up to undo the bad news she received 10 days later), her parents were more supportive but were struggling to find ways to express their support whilst dealing with near-daily phone calls from the dean threatening their daughter’s expulsion.

Her parents love her - in her head Julie knew that this was a fact, something indisputable - but recently she had been fighting with them more and more. Julie was beginning to spend the majority of her days away from the house. The atmosphere at home was stifling. Tensions brewed about everything: Julie’s lack of performance at school, her mum’s illness, her younger brother’s struggles at settling into his first school. Her dad had recently left his work to become the ‘stay-at-home-dad’ (a role he took to like a duck to water) whilst Julie was away at college and her mum was at chemo every day. Basically, shit sucked, and Julie was just so tired.

Sighing heavily, Julie pushes herself off the piano and rolls her shoulders, wincing as her neck crunches. She had been at the piano for – checking her watch – exactly three hours and twelve minutes.

“Right, Julie, get yourself together. You’re a Molina and Molina’s don’t give up! Play the damn piano!” stern pep talks weren’t Julie’s cup of tea, but there was a time and a place for everything and, right now, she was desperate and willing to try anything.

Settling her delicate fingers on the cold keys, Julie straightens herself into the familiar posture. This was what she was born to do, she could do this. Julie presses her fingers into the keys just as the bell rings out, harsh and insistent, drowning out the only sounds Julie had produced all day.

Frustrated tears spring into her eyes as she slams the lid of the piano shut, jumps off the stool and grabs her bag.

“Hey Molina!” Nick’s voice rings across the corridor as Julie slams her way out of the music room. “How did it go?”

“How do you think it went?” Julie hisses, feeling instantly guilty as Nick’s features crumple.

“I was only asking,” he mumbles. “You coming to class?”

Julie sighs. Musical Performance is her last class of the day, and today was her last chance to prove to everyone that she deserves to stay, “What’s the point, Nick? Everyone already knows I’m not going to play. I might as well just go home and accept my inevitable fate.”

“That’s not true…”

“Don’t lie, Nick,” Julie said, cutting him off. “I’ve heard every motivational speech you have and none of them have worked. I’ve tried for you, I’ve tried for Mrs Harrison, I’ve tried for my parents – none of it has worked. You go enjoy yourself, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Nick runs a hand through his hair and sighs, “If you’re sure.”

Before she can change her mind, Julie takes off towards the fire exit waving back over her shoulder as her best friend shakes his head exasperatedly.

Pushing the cold, stiff metal, Julie pops open the reinforced door before sprinting across the dead, brown grass as the emergency siren blares. She ducks through the hole in the school’s wire fence, rights her yellow, smiley-face jumper and sets off towards her home. Scuffing her feet on the pavement, Julie considers putting her earphones in but even the thought of listening to music makes her uncomfortable. Silence – well, as much silence as being outdoors in the middle of Los Angeles would allow – it was then. Might as well use the walk to prepare to face the music (aka the wrath of two seriously pissed off parents).

* * *

Julie knows she's in trouble, but nothing could prepare her for the anger and sheer disappointment radiating from her parent’s gazes. She arrives home and is promptly dragged to the kitchen table by her dad who had “just come off the phone with your college dean, Julie. Can you explain why you haven’t been to music class at all this week? And just what are you doing home at this time in the afternoon?”

Rose shushes her husband with a quick hand motion before gesturing for Julie to take a seat at the table.

“Now Julie,” her mother begins, her formally silky voice now rough and cracked, “Why aren’t you in performance class?”

Julie tries her best not to sigh – that was the fastest way to take this from frustrated but still supportive, to fully pissed off parents – as she sits at the table, her parents forming a united front, sitting together directly opposite her.

“It’s just pointless,” Julie mumbles, tracing the grain of the table wood with her thumbnail.

“Why do you say that, _el carino_?”

“Because it’s true! I have not been able to sing or play the piano for almost a year and we all know that they were going to kick me out of the class anyway!”

Rose grasps Ray’s hand with one of hers, and reaches the other hand across to lock with Julie’s, “It has been a hard year for us all, _mija_ , but that’s not a reason to give up!”

Julie snatches her hand back from her mother’s grasp, betrayal radiating in her chest, “How can you say that? Giving up is all we have done in the last year! You had to give up your band, dad had to give up his job, I’ve had to give up my music because there is a wall stopping me from playing. For fuck’s sake, the only one of us unaffected is Carlos and he is 10!”

“Watch your language!” Ray said.

“That’s not fair, Julie,” Rose interjects, “You know there is no way I could have gone through this treatment and kept up with the band, and your dad needed to help me run the home. We just want you to do what you love.”

Julie runs her hands through her mass of dark curls, tugging sharply to ground herself again, “I know that. Really, I do, but I can’t help but feel guilty spending money on college when we need to use it on your treatment.”

Julie glances up at her mother and notices the clench of her mother’s fingers and father’s jaw. The last year had really allowed Julie to see her parents. She’d known them before but going through this hell together meant she could now read them intimately.

“It’s your money, Julie,” Ray said, “You won that money on Star Search, you did that. Your mother and I have enough to sort the treatment without stealing your money!”

“It’s not stealing if I want to give it to you,” Julie replies, frustrated, “There’s no point in me having it anyway, I’m going to get kicked out any day now.”

“That is not the attitude to have. You will go back into that class and you will complete the year and go on to get your degree. You cannot squander this opportunity just because you’re feeling guilty,” Ray’s voice increases in volume as he speaks. “Your mother and I will not allow it.”

“Not allow it?! Not ALLOW IT!” Julie scoffs. “Because you not allowing it will just make my anxiety stop, just make the guilt go away, magically solve everything that’s wrong with me?! Fuck that. I’m done”

Julie pushes back from the table, scraping her chair across the polished wooden floors. Rose and Ray also rise from their chairs but more slowly, Rose leaning heavily on her husband’s offered arm.

“Julie, please….” Rose reaches out.

“No," said Julie as she pushes past her mother’s outstretched hand. “I will not stay where I cannot feel what I need to feel, that’s just insane, like living in hell.”

Julie grabs her school bag from where she’d dumped it on the counter before storming out of the front door. Slamming it hard behind her, Julie takes off down the street, furious tears cascading down her cheeks. She’d never thought it would come to this but she couldn’t do it anymore, she couldn’t just try to pretend to make them happy, she was sick of ripping herself apart to keep up a façade.

* * *

Julie wanders aimlessly for several hours before deciding on a destination. She walks towards the familiar, peeling blue paint and semi-lit neon sign of the Butterfly World exhibit.

It had been one of her and her parents favourite weekend outings when she was little. They had come here together – first just the 3 of them, then as a four when Carlos had been born – to admire the beauty of nature in the various tones and shades of the butterflies.

Julie had always been fascinated by butterflies. “You know,” her mother had whispered in her ear during one of their early visits, “People think of butterflies as symbols of change and of hope. Christians even believe that they represent life and the idea of resurrection.”

Young Julie considered this for a while, listening to the sound of a rare rainstorm battering the outside of the glass dome. “I think they are the best because they’re pretty,” she had finally declared, “Pretty things are the best things. Oh! And pizza is also a best thing.”

Her dad had chuckled as he had ruffled her humidity-emboldened hair, plucked her from the ground and swung her onto his shoulders, “Pizza and pretty things, eh? I think we’ve got the theme for your birthday party sorted!”

The Molinas had spent almost every Saturday in the butterfly house until Carlos got to about 7 and decided he was too cool for butterflies. Butterfly World had then become Julie and her mum’s thing, their special go-to place when they had time to spend together.

Julie hadn’t visited this place for more than a year now, since before her mum was diagnosed. She had applied to Star Search and that had eaten up the time between finishing high school and starting college, and somewhere in the midst of that her mum had gotten sick, really, really sick and suddenly Butterfly Saturdays were a thing of the past. Like the final remnants of a good dream that is drifting away as you wake.

Julie continues to reminisce, lost in the memories of what the family once looked like as she meanders gently around the dense planting. The humidity is already starting to affect her hair but it’s the least of her problems right now, so she leaves it be.

She spots her favourite butterfly on a plant across the walkway and makes her way over to it, stretching her hands forward to the rusted metal railing so she can lean comfortably.

“Ouch!” Julie hisses, bringing her now bleeding finger to her lips whilst internally cursing herself. Only Julie Molina could walk into a butterfly house and end up bleeding.

Mindlessly, she continues to suck her bleeding finger as her gaze wanders around the humid room. Julie spots her family’s favourite butterflies and stares – admiring their beauty and delicacy. A flash of movement on the plant in front of her drags Julie’s stare down to an unfamiliar but particularly stunning, translucent butterfly (an Amber Phantom, Julie noted, squinting at the small sign on a nearby wall) as it rested on a pink and yellow flower.

Minutes pass as Julie watches the butterfly bask in a stream of sunlight, tuning out the chatter of the other visitors and the anxious thoughts streaming through her head. She stares deeply, intent on memorising every fine detail of the marvellous creature in front of her. Removing her finger from her mouth, Julie assesses her wound. It was small, more significant than a paper cut, but not by much, and had stopped bleeding.

All too quickly the butterfly rises and flutters its wings gently, and drifts away on the small breeze in the exhibit. Keeping her eyes on the phantom as it flies, Julie raises her head to look at the glass roof of the dome, wincing as the direct sun rays hit her honeyed gaze.

Julie winces again as she lowers her head, and a wave of nausea hits her. She staggers towards a nearby bench and unceremoniously drops onto it. Sweat starts to bead on her forehead, matting delicate curls to her neck, and her stomach rolls again. As the waves in her stomach transform into a chilling tightness in her chest, Julie begins gasping for breath, wheezing, and swallowing back the saliva that pools in her mouth.

“You’re having a panic attack, Julie,” she thinks desperately, “Just another panic attack.”

But Julie knows that she is lying to herself – again – none of her panic attacks had left her this debilitated. She raises her hands to claw at her throat to find that the small, insignificant cut on her finger is now glowing red, shiny, and swollen. Julie attempts to swallow back the rising fear but finds that she cannot swallow. Her uninjured hand is on her throat, her injured, swollen one out in front of her as she slumps sideways on the bench, balancing precariously on the edge. A final, desperate gasp sends Julie crashing to the floor where she twitches silently, eyes rolling before locking onto her phone which lies open and face down on the bench.

A blurred face appears at the corner of her vision as black dots start scattering across her dimming sight. A hand grabs her own hand away from her throat as her eyes are drawn back to her phone; it begins to ring and the small screen shows a familiar message: “Mum calling…”.

Julie blinks once more, as the tightness in her chest constricts further and the pain in her head grows to where it might actually split her skull open. Blackness continues to creep in from the edges of her vision as the noise of the world fades out. One final blink leaves Julie’s eyes closed when her hand drops from the strangers grasp as Julie’s heart stops.


	2. Chapter 2

**2020**

The stage is bathed in neon light, highlighting the erratic movements of the band on stage. Four teenagers own the space, fully committing to the screaming crowd in front of them. Sunset Curve has been touring around all of the small venues in L.A., building up a loyal following who never miss a gig and faithfully contribute their own voices to the boys on stage.

The lead singer – Luke, who the fanbase maintain must be allergic to shirt sleeves - prowls the stage, switching effortlessly between belting lyrics and soloing on his guitar, his tongue poking out when he plucks a particularly intricate guitar part. He winks out into the crowd as he stalks back to his microphone, jerking his head towards the bassist – who makes sure to introduce himself at the beginning of every show as Reggie – who eagerly launches himself across the stage towards Luke. Together, the share the mic and belt out the lyrics to the chorus as Alex – a vision in a pink hoodie, raining rapid hits onto his drums – and Bobby (who is standing at the front of the stage, simultaneously shredding on his guitar and flirting with two girls) contribute a series of ‘ohs’ and ‘woahs’ in the background.

_In your starlight_

_Sweetie, we are alright_

_Feelin’ just fine_

_Let us collide_

_And be starlight_

_It’s golden glory_

_A broken story_

_Baby, you and I_

_We are_

_Starlight_

_Bright spots in a dark sky_

_Forever be your guy_

_Just save me tonight_

_Forever in your_

_Starlight_

As the final chords and drumbeats ring out across the hall, the crowd goes crazy, piercing screams and wolf whistles echoing and bouncing back whilst the boys form a sweaty mass of teenage boy, grasping each other in a wild hug.

“We did it, boys!” Luke shouts at his band mates, a boyish and triumphant grin splitting across his face.

“Just listen to them!” Bobby replies, clenching his fist more tightly into the back of Alex and Reggie’s shirts. “They love us!”

Alex and Reggie say nothing, but their bright eyes and delighted smiles say more than any words could. One final squeeze of the hug and the boys break apart, turning to face their audience. They grasp each other’s hands, raise them above their heads before bending into a low bow.

“Thank you everyone! We are Sunset Curve and that was In Your Starlight!” Luke and Alex bellow into the crowd before breaking off and following Bobby towards the side of the stage.

“Tell your friends!” Reggie adds, before sprinting after his other band members, winking, and waving out into the darkness of the crowd.

Staggering back behind the curtains, the boy’s whirl together and form another sweat-laden hug, jumping as high as they can without letting go of each other. After a few jumps they stop, resting their foreheads together, taking a moment in the quiet to revel in what they have just done.

“If the record execs were still on the fence about you guys, I think it’s safe to say you have just sealed the deal there boys!” an enthusiastic voice shouts from just outside the boy's circle.

Luke and Alex separate, unfurling the band circle to form a line, bound together with arms around each other’s shoulders and waists.

“We fucking rocked that, yeah Flynn?” Alex asks, grinning broadly at their friend-come-social-media-manager-come-fashion-expert-come-cheerleader.

Flynn rolls her eyes, tossing her long braids back over her right shoulder, revealing the Sunset Curve logo on her shirt, “As if you even need to ask!”

The boys look towards each other before rushing to surround Flynn in a hug.

“Eww! You guys are so gross and sweaty! Get off, you absolute heathens!” Flynn shrieks, swatting at the boys. “I take it all back, you guys are the worst!”

Luke, Alex and Reggie step back, guffawing at the wrinkled and disgusted expression on Flynn’s face. Bobby is distracted from joining in the laughter as he spots an attractive (although weirdly formally dressed for after a rock show) woman hovering beside the green room door.

“If you excuse me, guys, I have someone I need to introduce myself to,” Bobby says over his shoulder as he ruffles his hair and struts towards the woman.

“Don’t get any drool on her shirt, Bobby!” Luke yells after him, laughing even harder when Bobby whirls to glare at him.

“Have fun packing up the van without me!” Bobby replies.

The three boys and Flynn stick their middle fingers up at him before organising themselves to clear the stage, it was not the first time Bobby had become distracted by a pretty girl. It used to annoy the boys but they now realised it was quicker to load the van without him – plus it meant that Reggie could always convince Flynn to take them for pizza, and Alex was able to call Willie before his boyfriend went to bed.

* * *

After lugging all of their equipment back to the van (Flynn declined the boys kind request to lend a hand, “I’m too pretty for manual labour,” she’d scoffed) Luke, Alex and Reggie completed a final round of chat and photos with their fans – Reggie swore his facial muscles had were stuck in place from all the smiling he’d done – before loading their sweaty selves into the vehicle alongside their equipment. Somehow, Alex manages to wrangle the passenger seat with Luke and Reggie folding themselves carefully into the back (Luke practically in a lover’s embrace with the drum kit) as Flynn takes on the role of responsible adult, taking the wheel and accelerating out of the car park.

“Straight back to the studio, boys?” Flynn asks, already knowing the answer she'll receive.

“No!” all three boys chorus back. “Pizza, pizza, pizza!”

Flynn laughs at the band’s antics – they were two years old than her but definitely acted more like 5-year-olds – and swings into the lane to take them to their favourite local pizza place, eliciting a round of cheers from the back of the van. Alex is too busy fiddling with the radio to join in. A broad grin spreads across his face as he finds a station playing One Direction and whacks the volume up to full; Flynn groans from the driver’s seat but goes unheard by the boys as they join in the song with unrivalled enthusiasm.

Flynn rolls her eyes, but her face breaks out into a grin, she really loves working with Sunset Curve. She has already pre-ordered the band’s meal (Reggie wants pizza after every show and, as much as Flynn loves to pretend she has something better to do, she always let Reggie wear her down with his puppy-dog eyes) so she nips in through the drive-through and collects their order without stopping the post-concert-concert currently taking place in the van.

She hands the boxes of pizza across to Alex as Luke and Reggie whine from the backseat.

“Give us a slice…”

“If you love us at all, Alex, you’ll let us eat.”

Alex snorts, keeping both hands firmly on the cardboard boxes, “You know how hard it was to get tomato stains out of my drums the last time I let you eat near the equipment? No way, guys.”

“But Alex…” Reggie whines. 

“But nothing,” Alex replies, “I am a mountain, and I am immovable in my decision.”

“Dick,” Luke mutters under his breath.

Alex reaches back and slaps the back of Luke’s head before cowering away as Luke swings a wild arm towards the front seat, middle finger extended to make his displeasure clear.

Luckily, before things get any more violent, Flynn swings the van into the drive, slamming on the brakes a little harder than necessary just to amuse herself as the three boys flail wildly in their seats. She switches off the engine, unclips her seatbelt and rushes around to the rear of the van, opening the double doors wide to let Luke and Reggie tumble out, both boys shooting her a glare as they emerge.

“If you weren’t so important to the success of Sunset Curve,” Reggie bites out, “I think I’d be fine with killing you right about now.”

Luke comes down beside Reggie and leans on his shoulder, “I’m not necessarily okay with murder but I feel that a little maiming wouldn’t go amiss right about now.”

They slam the van doors shut, bringing together the two halves of the large, printed Sunset Curve logo – originally the design company had misspelled it and there were still traces of the ‘Sw’ underneath the ‘C’ where they had covered it up (when they had built their website they had bought sunsetswerve.com too, just for posterity’s sake).

Flynn laughs at the boy’s attempt to be intimidating.

“You are such dorks,” she says, leaning up to kiss them both quickly on the cheek.

“Hey!” Alex stutters, finally appearing from his side of the van, balancing several pizza boxes in one hand, his phone in the other, “Why are they getting kisses?”

“Because they’re dorks,” Flynn replies, reaching up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Alex’s check too, before heading towards the gate. “Unlike you boys, some of us have plans in the morning, enjoy your pizza, dorks!” she shouts over her shoulder, lobbing the keys towards Reggie, who fumbles them into the expectant hands of Luke.

Luke, Alex and Reggie let out a chorus of ‘goodbyes’ before turning tail and heading towards the studio to inhale their food.

As they walk, Luke sends a quick text to their missing band member: “please, stop attempting to traumatise that nice woman with your flirting and bring your tiny micro-dick to the studio asap for pizza and cuddles.”

Luke doesn’t even have time to put his phone back in his pocket before it lights up with a notification: 1 message from **Big Booby:** “fuck off, prick.”

Luke snorts as he fires off a quick reply, “no. ❤️”

He tucks his phone away in his back pocket and launches himself to wrap his arms around Alex and Reggie’s shoulders, timing it poorly which results in the boys having to shuffle awkwardly through the narrow door sideways.

“We’ve made it, boys,” Luke says quietly, squeezing the boys tightly to emphasise his point.

Reggie just sighs dreamily, pressing his forehead into Luke’s arm as Alex replies, “We haven’t signed a contract yet. Don’t count your chickens and all that.”

“Just let me live, dude.”

Reggie’s eyebrows furrow, “Why would we be counting chickens?”

Alex and Luke start laughing, doubling over slightly as they bundle onto the sofa.

“Why are you laughing at me?! Why would a rock band have chickens?”

The indignant tone in Reggie’s voice sets Alex and Luke off even harder and soon there are tears running down their faces.

“You are so lucky you can play bass,” Luke said.

“Fuck you.”

The three boys nestle together on the sofa, legs intertwined as they finally dig into their pizzas, Star Wars playing softly in the background, as they relive the night again.

When Bobby finally gets back to the studio, he finds Luke, Reggie, and Alex fast asleep, still in their concert clothes, cold pizza sitting in boxes on their laps. Reggie is lying across the two other boys and Luke and Alex’s legs are so tangled that Bobby can’t figure out which limbs belong to which boy.

Bobby sighs fondly, a small smile playing on his face as he turns off the TV, shuts off the lights and makes his way to one of the actual beds they keep in the back of the studio.

* * *

Still riding on a high from the previous night’s performance, the boys are back in their studio (their newly purchased studio from a bit of cobbled together cash (mostly from Luke's inheritance but that was a fact they didn't bring up often)) early the next day (well, early for them, the rest of the world would consider their ‘early mornings’ mid-afternoon).

Luke is prepared with several notes on their songs – he always studies their performances to see where they could improve – and the other boys know better than to argue with him. Not only was Luke usually right (originally there hadn’t been a clapping section in Now or Never but Luke had demanded it after their first live rendition of the song and it had elevated the sound to something special) but the first few times one of the boys – usually Bobby – had tried to shout down one of his ideas Luke would deploy his ‘puppy-dog’ eyes and the other boys’ arguments would soon be forgotten.

“Bloody guerrilla style tactic, that is,” Reggie sighs, exasperated, as he once again loses his train of thought when Luke looks at him over the microphone. “Unbelievable.”

Luke just winks at him and the band continues to tinker with their songs from the previous night.

A couple of hours later, mentally alert but physically drained and dripping with sweat, the boys decide to call it a day. Reggie, Alex, and Bobby flop dramatically onto the sofa, creating one big, sweaty pile of limbs and ripped jeans whilst Luke stalks to the grand piano (unused but aesthetically pleasing all the same) in the corner of the room to retrieve his phone.

Flicking open his screen – smiling fondly at the photo of him and his mum – he notices he has missed several calls (37 to be precise – 16 from Flynn, the other 12 from a variety of unknown numbers and the final nine from the exec of the record company they were currently in talks with). In his heart, Luke would rather call Flynn back first but, using his band business head, he presses redial on the exec’s number.

The phone call connects, and Luke opens his mouth to speak but is cut off swiftly by a terse acknowledgement from the man on the other end of the phone. The voice doesn’t pause to let Luke speak, instead launching into a quiet, but still clearly angry, tirade about Sunset Curve’s unprofessionalism and the fact that as of now the band was blacklisted from the record company.

Luke takes a breath and stutters out, “I’m sorry but I don’t understand. I thought we were almost set on this deal; Sunset Curve were coming in to sign a contract this week. Can I ask why your company has changed it’s mind?”

This sets the man off again, he rants about copyright and how they are lucky that he wasn’t going to spread this news across other record companies. He then said something which sends Luke reeling, clenching his fist, drawing an angry breath through his nose.

“And that is why Formula Records are no longer interested in working with Sunset Curve. Goodbye, Mr Patterson.”

The line goes dead, and Luke dumps his phone back on the piano before whirling to face his bandmates.

Alex and Reggie immediately sit up, noticing the expression on their friend’s face and the tension in his frame.

“Luke,” Alex said, softly, “What’s going on?”

Luke has a mean glint in his eye as he replies, “Maybe you should ask Bobby. It seems like he might be the only one who knows why the fuck Formula has just cancelled our contract and threatened to blacklist Sunset Curve at every record company in L.A.”

Alex and Reggie wear identically confused expressions as they turn back to their final band member, who was sitting up very straight and suddenly looking pale.

“Luke….” Bobby said.

“Don’t give me any shit, Bobby,” Luke bites out, “Tell the truth. Tell Alex and Reggie exactly how you have royally fucked us over.”

Bobby opens his mouth to speak but Luke beats him to it, his rage propelling him to speak before Bobby does.

“He sold our songs to another band who are now claiming we have violated their copyright by playing ‘their’ songs at our show.”

Reggie and Alex both take stuttered breaths, eyebrows shooting towards their hairlines as they glance back towards Bobby, who drops his head, refusing to meet their gaze.

“Bobby, please tell us you didn’t do that,” said Alex.

Bobby’s guilty expression tells them all they needed to know. “It was all old songs I didn’t think we’d play again… we needed the money to buy this place… I didn’t mean to hurt you guys or ruin Sunset Curve.”

Luke, Alex, and Reggie look to each other, communicating without words. Their expressions are all mirrors of each other: betrayal, hurt, and anger radiate out from each of their gazes.

Finally, breaking eye contact, Reggie turns back towards Bobby, eyes narrow, glinting dangerously in the final rays of sun. “Get the fuck out of our studio,” he hisses.

“What?” Bobby says, taken aback by the venom in his friend’s voice. “But… I did this to help us and I used the money to make sure we had enough to buy this place.”

“Don’t you dare!” Alex shouts, moving to stand behind Luke at the same time Reggie moves from his space on the sofa. “You betrayed us!”

Reggie folds his arms across his chest, attempting to look menacing.

“You sold MY songs and still think you have a right to be here?” Luke scoffs. “Fuck off, Bobby.”

“But the money…. I helped buy the…”

“I swear, if you say, ‘I helped buy the studio’ once more, Bobby,” said Reggie, coming forward to sling an arm around Luke’s shoulder. “This studio belongs to Sunset Curve, and you are no longer a part of the band.”

“And,” Alex adds, twirling one of his drumsticks between his fingers, “you stole the money from us by stealing Luke’s songs, so I’m not sure you have any claim to this place.”

Bobby’s eyes flick from one of his bandmates to the other then the other, but he sees no softness there, any fondness he could once detect there has been burned away by his betrayal. Shuffling around the trio – Alex turns, keeping his eyes on him, Luke and Reggie staying stoically still, staring pointedly towards the studio doors – to grab his guitar and his jacket. Bobby quickly stuffs his arms through his jacket and slings his guitar strap over his shoulder before making his way quickly to the door.

Just as he reaches the threshold, Bobby turns back towards his former bandmates, “For what it’s worth, I had the time of my life playing music with you guys.”

Luke follows him to the door (Alex and Reggie were barely a step behind) and snorts derisively at Bobby’s words, betrayal and hurt spark again in his eyes, “Go fuck yourself, Bobby.”

Luke grasps the door and slides it shut, leaving Bobby alone on one side, and the other three boys on the other – together but hurting.

Reggie and Alex hold their hands out to Luke, who grabs both desperately and uses them to pull himself into his bandmates. All three of them feel raw, still reeling from the sudden turn of events, and are relying on each other to remain standing.

“I think this calls for group cuddles and pizza,” said Reggie.

“Plus at least a pint of ice-cream each,” Alex replies. 

Luke removes his head from Alex’s collarbone and smiles a small, watery smile, “I love you guys.”

Walking backwards, Reggie drags Alex and Luke to the sofa, pulling them down so they form their favourite ‘boy-band’ (now, technically a ‘boy-band -1’) pile.

Reggie coughs slightly from the bottom of the pile, “I’m going to have to put a 10-minute time-limit on this otherwise you will have a very dead bassist on your hands!”

Alex and Luke catch each other’s eyes and dissolve into laughter, causing a bewildered look to flash across Reggie’s face before he, too, begins to snicker. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i hope you're all enjoying this so far because i am having a blast writing this.
> 
> you can thank my more consistent tenses in this chapter to my new beta, [juulies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nnegan13) (also juulies on tumblr) who is like my own personal editing angel. they will be editing my writing from now on so you can expect my tenses to be more consistent from now on. genuinely though, i've never had someone beta my writing before and the process has been glorious so far. so a big shout out to meg!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a little shorter than my first two chapters and, for that, i apologize. originally, i had this chapter and then next one as one 5k chapter but i decided to split it. the next chapter will be up asap (like tonight or tomorrow) to make up for that!
> 
> this chapter is currently unbeta'd but will get edited as and when my beta is feeling better.
> 
> i hope you all enjoy!
> 
> (p.s. the boys will meet julie very soon, i promise!)

**2020**

The next few weeks are tough for the boys. The three of them drift listlessly through their day-to-day routines - Alex still meets up with Willie (and they do enjoy many dates and lots of kisses; Alex is’t going to let Bobby’s betrayal ruin his relationship) but he has broken down in tears several times and has taken to playing the same drum rhythms repeatedly; Reggie continues to attend college classes but does so unenthusiastically (which, he admits, isn’t much of a change for some subjects but Reggie has never been unenthusiastic in his music or math classes) and hasn’t thought of a single ridiculous title for one of his potential country hits; and then there’s Luke, Luke is just broken.

Alex and Reggie can only watch as their best friend stumbles through his days - diving from one activity to another, chaotically, completely unfocussed; a whirlwind of confusion, hurt and anger. Luke has not sat down to write a song since the day Bobby had left the band. He has tried, but each time he tries, Luke feels the words escaping through his grasp, leaving shadows of half-formed melodies and partial chord progressions floating just outside of his consciousness. 

The other boys know that Luke is blaming himself for the way things had turned out with Bobby. Luke had been the one to invite the other guitarist into the band, and he had also penned the lyrics to the songs that Bobby had used to betray them. As many times as Alex and Reggie assure Luke that it isn’t his fault and that they had kicked Bobby out of the band together, they couldn’t completely make Luke’s feelings of guilt disappear. 

Luke piles more guilt upon himself when he reflects on the things Bobby did. Luke grits his teeth and blinks rapidly trying - and failing - to stop his tears falling when Luke realises that he understands why Bobby did what he did. Hell, Luke thinks to himself more than once, I would have agreed, I would have helped him if he had just told me. Luke’s heart feels jagged and torn and now has an inky, black space where Luke’s love for Bobby once lived. He subconsciously traces the edges of it, punishing himself whenever he starts to feel the slightest glimmer of happiness, the faint glow of his own forgiveness forces Luke to retreat back and deliberately prod at his (metaphorical but all too real) wounds. 

Sunset Curve (-1) are still holding band practices. Shitty, short, frustrating band practices in which they repeat the same 5 step process each time the boys try to play their music. Step 1: pick a song (whilst trying to ignore the painful linkages to their missing friend); step 2: attempt to play the chosen song (whilst lamenting the loss of their second guitar and the wholeness Bobby used to bring to their sound); step 3: reach a part in the song - sometimes the boys make it as far as the chorus, other times they were lucky to make it to the second line - where Bobby’s voice should have chimed in and re-remember that Bobby is gone (whilst thinking ‘fuck you, Bobby’ as their instruments fall out of sync); step 4: breakdown (whilst pretending not to be breaking down; Alex fakes hand cramps as an excuse to drop his drumsticks, Reggie pretends he’s got some dust in his eyes to excuse his tears, Luke suggests they dabble in heavy metal music as an excuse to scream into his mic); and, finally, step 5: give up on band practice, promise each other they’ll try again tomorrow before bundling down on the sofa together. 

One night, 17 nights after Event X (Reggie decides that saying Bobby’s name is having a negative effect on the band so elects to rename his departure; the vote is unanimous as Alex and Luke don’t care - but Reggie does so they raise their hands when Reggie ask ‘all in favour?’) at the end of another failed practise, Alex and Reggie are folded together on the sofa, watching Luke as he stalks back and forth across the studio floor. Luke’s hands clench and loosen as he walks, left foot hits the floor: hands bundle into fists; right foot: hands loosen and flex by his sides. The movement is strangely hypnotic and the other boys can’t help but track the movement with their eyes. 

“What are we going to do, boys?” Luke finally says, standing still but continuing to clench and unclench his fists.

Alex and Reggie glance at each other before looking back towards Luke. Reggie shrugs as Alex says, “we don’t know, man. We’ve just got to keep trying.”

Luke winces at that, “we’ve been trying for weeks and we haven’t managed to play through a whole song yet. I think we’ve got to admit it: Sunset Curve is dead.”

Luke drops down onto the sofa beside Alex; Reggie reaches over and squeezes his hand.

“Fuck,” Reggie says softly, leaning into Alex’s shoulder, staring straight up to the ceiling.

“Fuck,” Alex repeats back, reaching both arms around Luke and Reggie’s shoulders.

Luke burrows further into his friend’s side and the boys say nothing more. They sit together in silence, the overwhelming feeling of their dreams being slowly crushed keeps them from moving or saying anything. Each of the boys has tears in their eyes as they begin to drift off to sleep.

“Fuck,” Luke says finally, fluttering his eyelids closed as Reggie snores softly.

* * *

The boys temporarily give up trying to make their music. They realise that trying to force themselves to play Sunset Curve’s sound is keeping them from moving on; the songs are too strongly connected to Bobby, so entangled with his essence the other boys can’t disconnect one from the other. Alex still encourages them to play and practise (“just in case,” Alex always says, a small, hopeful smile on his face) but they do so separately but still often all at the same time. Their ‘non-practise-practices’ descend into a barely discernible cacophony - Luke regularly tests his skills by playing older, complicated guitar riffs; Alex decides on a song for the day and plays it repeatedly in an attempt to ‘perfect’ it; and Reggie splits his time equally between actually practising his bass and creating ever louder, more obnoxious banjo riffs. 

When Reggie - a delighted smile upon his face - takes off on a particularly complex banjo piece one evening, Alex and Luke meet each other’s eyes over the top of the drumkit and break into their first genuine smiles in what feels like forever. They stop playing and turn to watch Reggie, fond expressions on their faces, eyes soft as they gaze at their friend. Luke feels a gradual warming in his heart as he watches, it gets brighter when Alex joins in on his drums (softly at first but getting stronger as he picks up on Reggie’s rhythm) and the torn edges of Luke’s heart glow entirely gold when he begins to strum accompanying chords.

It feels like they are playing together for the very first time. Alex and Luke take their lead from Reggie, and follow along as best they can, but the entire performance is tentative. Reggie weaves his rhythm, Alex provides the beat, sure and steady and confident, whilst Luke takes up an unusual position, treading carefully along the path his bandmates set for him to follow. Luke is unsure of the unfamiliarity of this feeling - he is used to being the frontman, the act in centre stage - and taking a step back leaves him with an itchy feeling, like putting on a pair of jeans that aren’t fully dry. At least it’s better than feeling like I’m drowning, Luke thinks to himself.

Luke decides, however unfamiliar this feeling is, not to question it. He lets Reggie and Alex guide him, almost as if leading a toddler gently by the hand, as Luke relaxes into the music for the first time in months. Alex and Reggie share a look and a small smile as Luke eyes flutter closed. The moment lasts for barely 30 seconds, the three bandmates finally together in harmony again, before Reggie changes key, Alex misses the step and his sticks fall out of rhythm and Luke snaps a string on his guitar. The flow of the music halts abruptly and descends into a stramash of curse words (courtesy of Luke who is now nursing a cut on his finger), half-hearted rhythms (Alex shakes his head in amusement as he tries and fails to catch up with Reggie) and wild banjo sounds (Reggie simply looks delighted with himself). 

“Guys!” Luke shouts over the din in the studio, “hey, guys!”

Alex stops playing immediately but Reggie continues strumming before finally stopping when Luke glares at him sharply.

“What’s up?” Reggie asks, a broad grin on his face as he launches himself onto the sofa, banjo still in hand.

“We just played music together, like together-together,” Luke says excitedly, bouncing from one foot to the other.

Alex, Reggie and Luke share a grin with each other. “Hell yeah we did,” Alex says.

Luke turns to Reggie, “What was that song you were playing?”

Reggie sits up, wide-eyed and excited, “Oh! Did I not show you before?” he grabs his phone from his pocket and hurriedly scrolls through it before handing it over to Luke. “It’s from some show from like the 80s or 90s called Star Search.”

Luke moves to stand in front of the drums so that Alex can also see the grainy video playing on Reggie’s phone. 

“One of the contestants was playing a similar tune during one of the practise rounds for the show and it just stuck with me. Of course, she was playing it on the piano and I made it better by playing it on the banjo.”

Luke rolls his eyes as the video ends. 

“I think we should watch more of this show,” Alex says, walking around the side of his drum kit. “Switching off for a while might be good for us.”

“Plus we can always get some more inspiration from some of the songs, I suppose,” Luke replies, gently placing his guitar down on it’s stand. “It’s about time we get back into our music again.”

The boys settle in and queue up several episodes of Star Search. Soon, all three are engrossed in the contestants and their stories (as much as Luke maintains that he is “only watching for the music, Alex”; Alex and Reggie scoff sharply each time he says this). 

They reach the final episode of the 1994 series - a fierce competition raging between two teenagers competing for the $100,000 prize.

Luke, Reggie and Alex are all rooting for the short, curly-haired, piano-playing, singer (although they have all forgotten her name, being too focussed on the song she is performing); Alex taps out an accompanying drum beat, Luke blinks slowly as he crafts accompanying chords in his head and Reggie breathes out “she has the voice of an angel”.

Alex and Luke dig their elbows into Reggie’s sides, causing the bassist to slide gracelessly onto the floor, screeching as he does so.

Alex and Luke dissolve into laughter as Reggie stands up, straightening his leather jacket, carefully placing his banjo out of harm’s way before leaping onto his best-friends, “it’s on!”

The end of Star Search goes unwatched as the boys descend into a full on wrestling match, slinging pillows at each other across the studio and launching themselves at each other.

Alex, Luke and Reggie are too focussed on their fight to see Julie Molina, their favourite, short, curly-haired, piano-playing singer get crowned champion and then, inexplicably and instantaneously, flicker into existence in their studio. Julie stands there for barely a second before a stray pillow crashes through her and causes her to ripple out of existence once more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i'm weak, i know i said this would be up at some point but here we are 5 seconds later and i'm uploading this chapter too.
> 
> i will now disappear back into the ether for the next week or so!
> 
> p.s. this chapter is currently unbeta'd too

**2020**

Alex is the first one of the boys to actually see Julie. Alex, Luke and Reggie had been in the studio trying to round out the sound of their new song. It’s not exactly one of Luke's lyrically splendid ballads but, as much as they were trying to force it, this song was as good as they were going to get for now.

Alex is the only one left in the studio, mindlessly drumming the beat to Now or Never repeatedly. Normally, he manages to cope with his anxiety pretty well but Luke had stormed off in frustration and Reggie had quickly followed to "prevent any potential incidents", leaving Alex alone with nothing but his thoughts and his drums. Over and over again the same beat comes out, the regularity of the sounds and movements calming Alex’s mind, helping to bring his thoughts back to the here and now.

Alex closes his eyes and lets his hands guide the music, beginning to flow from the repetitive chorus to some new sound, different from the band's usual music, something familiar yet unfamiliar, like a song he has been hearing in the background but is now pushing itself to the forefront of his thoughts.

He misses the hi-hat and lurches to the side in shock, "Fuck," he swears. Alex’s eyes pop open as his stomach drops and he comes close to collapsing sideways off of his seat. It wouldn’t be the first time that Alex had injured himself whilst lost in his music but he gasps for an entirely unrelated reason.

Alex finds himself looking at the back of a girl. A random girl, mind you. It wasn't that the boys (well, the other boys) hadn't invited the occasional girl back to the studio, but this girl wasn't a familiar face - or head of gorgeous, black curls really, since she still hadn't turned around.

"Hello?! Can I help you?"

The girl whirls around, her mass of curls flying out around her.

"What are you doing in my mum's studio?" she asks, her arms folding and a single eyebrow quirking up questioningly.

"Your... your mum's... we just bought this studio. We were told that there hadn’t been anyone in the place for years!" Alex stutters out. Who was this girl? And why was she so familiar?

"Oh," the girl's expression turns mournful and confused in the second before she vanishes.

Alex's eyebrows shoot towards his hairline. Wonderful, he thinks, now, I’m hallucinating. 

Before he can spiral any further into this new information, he hears Reggie and Luke returning, guffawing, and jostling each other as they saunter through the door.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Alex," Reggie says, noticing their friends' pale and subdued demeanour. "You okay, dude?"

Alex puts both drumsticks into one hand and uses his other to rub the back of his neck, "Yeah, I think so, I think I'm just overworked and mildly anxious."

Luke barks out a laugh, "That is the perfect title for your autobiography, man. Now, come and eat. We brought pizza!"

“Pizza again?” Alex groans, mockingly, “I’d never have guessed.”

Reggie holds up two boxes and shakes them gently as he and Luke throw themselves (inelegantly but simultaneously oddly elegant at the same time) onto the fold-out couch.

"Band bonding night!" Luke shouts as if they didn't already spend 99% of their time together. "Get your ass over here."

Alex takes one last look at the spot where the girl had appeared and, just as quickly, disappeared, blinks a couple of times before joining Luke and Reggie on the couch. Alex hopes that pizza and sleep would be the cure for his sudden hallucinating and, if not, the girl was a mystery for another day.

* * *

Reggie sees Julie next. He is pottering around the small kitchen attached to the studio, humming under his breath as he bounces from counter to cupboard and back. A small pile of ingredients sits on the counter near the oven which hums quietly as it warms.

Reggie grabs another bag from a high cupboard and whirls back to the other ingredients. He is wearing his red-plaid-flannel open over a plain black vest – his leather jacket abandoned somewhere on his walk from the other side of the studio. Sweeping his hair back (easily slickable due to the residual sweat from the night’s practise), Reggie picks up his phone and stares intently at the instructions on the screen, wrinkles of confusion appearing in the space between his eyebrows. 

Reggie begins to enthusiastically (read: messily) grab ingredients and measure them (read: not measuring anything) into the big bowl in front of him. He is attempting to make brownies and Reggie figures so long as he adds enough chocolate, everything will be fine. Reggie unlocks his phone again to check the number of eggs required - the recipe says 2, so Reggie adds 3 for luck - and stares down into the gloopy, slowly bubbling mixture in front of him.

“You’ll need to add more flour to that mixture,” a female voice says quietly, resonating from the counter beside Reggie. “It’s far too sloppy to make any decent cake.”

Reggie blinks slowly at the girl, who seems perfectly comfortable perched on the counter-top. He recognises her but can’t quite place her, so Reggie assumes she’s someone that Luke or Alex has invited back to the studio for whatever reason. Plus, she’s giving him baking advice so who is Reggie to question her?

Reggie follows her instructions, carefully pouring some more flour into the mix, until the girl nods, and then stirs it together thoroughly. He has to admit, the mixture looks much better now.

Reggie reaches over to pick-up his brownie pan when the girl chips in again, “Did you remember the pinch of salt?”

Reggie looks at her in confusion, small wrinkles appearing between his eyebrows at her suggestion. “Salt?! In brownies? Are you mad?”

The girl laughs gleefully, before brushing her curls over one shoulder and meeting Reggie’s confused gaze, “A pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Trust me.”

Reggie narrows his eyes further but the girl continues to smile broadly, the gap in her teeth so endearing. With a sigh, Reggie reaches for the salt and a teaspoon. “If this ends up poisoning me and my bandmates, I’m coming back to haunt you,” he threatens without heat.

She snorts, “you’ll thank me later!”

Reggie pours the batter - which, as much as he wants to pretend it doesn’t, looks perfect - into his tin and bends down to delicately place it in the oven. When Reggie stands up again, the girl has disappeared from the counter and all that remains is the mess he has made (if someone was to say the mess was due to a small hurricane tearing through the kitchen it would have been believable). Reggie shrugs, assuming the curly-haired girl has gone back through to the studio (I’d have done the same, Reggie thinks to himself, a clever way to avoid cleaning duty!).

Half an hour later, Reggie presents a carefully stacked plate of still-warm-and-gooey brownies (he hadn’t done the washing up, he’d fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole instead) to Alex and Luke. The two boys reach for the same piece of brownie - the centre-centre piece (aka the best piece) - and a brief scuffle ensues before Alex uses his superior arm length to snag the piece, dancing away from Luke’s attempt to swipe at his back. Luke rolls his eyes before grabbing a different piece and launching himself on top of the piano. Reggie looks on nervously as Alex and Luke take ginormous bites of their slices. The silence begins to stretch and Reggie starts to panic - maybe they were horrible? What if he did actually poison his best friends? - but relaxes as soon as he looks at Luke and Alex’s faces. 

Both boys are sporting matching grins (Luke has chocolate in his teeth but somehow manages to make it look attractive). “These are your best bake yet!” Alex says, Luke nods enthusiastically to show his agreement, shooting a double thumbs up to Reggie (holding the brownie between his teeth).

Reggie blushes and drops his gaze, “Thanks guys! You sure they’re that good?”

“These are great, Reg,” Luke says, patting Reggie on the shoulder. “Did you try something new this time?”

“Some salt and vanilla.”

Alex and Luke moan lowly as they each take another bite. Reggie makes a similar noise when he takes his first taste.

“That girl is a baking angel,” Reggie tries to mumble through his mouthful (Luke and Alex make out the word angel and nothing else).

“Sure, dude,” Alex says, darting forward to grab another brownie. “These really are delicious!”

Soon, the entire plate of brownies has been scoffed (Luke also insists on licking the plate) and the boys are lying on the floor nursing their new food-babies.

“You have got to bake those again soon, Reg,” Luke says.

“Anytime,” Reggie agrees, “so long as you two do the washing up for me!”

Alex swivels to look at Luke, “I do believe our band-mate is blackmailing us using baked goods!”

“Me?!” Reggie places a hand on his chest dramatically, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I would never! I am simply suggesting a fair trade of goods - my brownies - for your services - your washing up skills.”

Luke and Alex grin at him. “Suppose that sounds fair to me,” Luke says, “Alex?”

Alex grumbles but sticks out his hand for Reggie to shake, “I believe we have come to an agreement.”

Luke holds out his hand for Reggie to shake too before Alex and Luke roll slowly up and off the floor, slinging their arms around each other before walking to the kitchen. Reggie stays where he is on the rug, comfortable and full of food.

“Reginald! This kitchen is a disgrace!”

“We’ve been had, Alex! The swine knew what he was doing!”

The outrage in his band-mates' voices sends Reggie into a fit of giggles, which turns to full-bellied laughter moments later when he hears Luke whine, “You got bubbles on my beanie, Alex!”

* * *

The third time Julie appears, all three boys are in the studio. She blinks into the studio, blazing purple light announcing her arrival to a spot directly in front of Luke, Reggie and Alex, beside the dust-coated grand piano. 

Almost simultaneously, three objects - a green guitar pick, a drumstick, and a patent black shoe, to be precise - sail through Julie's head.

She raises her head, body still flickering slightly where the projectiles had disappeared through her and shoots a glare at the three boys. The boy on the drums looks sheepish but determined, aiming his second stick at her. The other two boys are moving towards the drum kit, towards each other and the drummer, almost protectively. Julie snorts, she is 5'4'' and 110 pounds soaking wet, what do the boys have to be scared of?

"First off, very rude. Secondly, kudos on your accuracy, and thirdly," Julie says cheerfully, counting off on her fingers, as the thrown items clatter to the ground behind her. "Hi! I’m Julie, Julie Molina!"

The boys blink and freeze, the drummer’s second drumstick drops to the floor behind him. The resounding clatter echoes across the silent studio and Julie’s eyes flick back and forth between the three teenagers, snorting lightly at their incredulous expressions.

“Luke… Alex… ,” Reggie whines, sidling slowly closer to the other boys without breaking eye contact with Julie. 

Alex is unfrozen by the sound of his name and makes his way out from behind his drums to grasp Reggie’s hand. The three boys stand together, shoulder to shoulder, facing Julie from across the studio.

“Wait,” Alex says slowly, “I’ve seen you before. You were here the other day.”

Reggie peaks out over Alex’s shoulder, his eyes widening in recognition. “You’re the baking angel!” he squeaks.

Luke looks between Alex and Reggie. “You’re telling me,” he says, “that I am the only one who hasn’t received a one-on-one visit from the cute ghost?!”

“You think I’m cute?” Julie asks.

Luke blinks and his face starts to turn a pale shade of pink. He takes his phone out of his pocket and quickly unlocks, ignoring the teasing tone in Julie’s voice.

“What are you doing?” Julie asks, wrinkling her nose in, what the boys assume is, confusion.

“I’m googling  Julia Molins,” Luke replies sharply, eyes darting up to meet hers before snapping back down to his phone.

“ _ Julie _ Molina,” Julie says, stressing the ‘e’ sound in her name.

Luke mutters a quick, “sorry” but continues tapping away on his phone.

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Alex asks quietly, receiving a shrug from Reggie and no acknowledgement at all from Luke who is too engrossed in his Googling.

Reggie and Alex gather around Luke, peering over his shoulders at the screen of his phone, eyes widening slowly as they take in the contents of the article Luke is showing them.

“Guys?” Julie asks after a minute of silence, “Did your ‘noogle’ tell you anything?”

Alex turns towards her slowly. Julie spies a flicker of sympathy in his gaze as he begins, “You did die.”

Julie rolls her eyes, “I think we figured that part out already.”

Alex coughs and seems reluctant to continue.

Luke places a hand on his blonde-friend’s shoulder and takes over. “You did die,” he says, meeting Julie’s eye as if challenging her not to interrupt, “but not yesterday.”

Julie returns his gaze, wrinkling her brow, “What do you mean? How long has it been then? Weeks?”

Reggie steps forwards before quietly saying, “No, it’s been a bit longer than that,” - Reggie takes a deep breath - “You died 25 years ago.”

Julie pales (which the boys observe is an unexpected reaction from a ghost) and shakily lowers herself onto the sofa (the boys notice that, again unexpectedly, the sofa responds to her like it would to one of them, remaining solid and allowing Julie to settle softly into the cushions). 

“Yeah, 25 years ago, in 1995,” Luke clarifies, “which explains why you don’t know anything about Google or recent mobile technology.”

Julie glances up at Luke and he smiles awkwardly at her, almost apologetically.

“Does your Google,” Julie tests out the word carefully, “tell you how I died?”

Luke winces as if he had been expecting the question whilst hoping she wouldn’t ask.

“Allergic reaction to N’gwa caterpillars, apparently.”

“Oh,” Julie says at the same time Reggie excitedly bursts out, “bushmen use those caterpillars for tipping their poison arrows.”

Alex, Luke and Julie turn their gazes towards Reggie who begins to blush and drops his gaze to the ground.

“That is fascinating, Reggie,” Alex says gently, “but maybe try a bit more compassion.”

Reggie nods, “sorry.”

Julie begins to chuckle, the sound of it harsh in the quiet of the studio, “only Julie Molina would die of an allergic reaction to a caterpillar when her favourite animal is a butterfly.”

Alex suddenly narrows his eyes slightly, staring at Julie intently, muttering, “Julie Molina… Julie… Molina!”

“That’s my name, yes,” Julie replies, mildly concerned by the concentrated look on the tall boy’s face. 

“I’ve just realized where we know you from!” Alex says, excitedly, “You were on that Star Search show thing!”

Reggie and Luke’s eyes widen as the connection clicks together in their minds. “Of course,” Luke says; “how didn’t I see that before?” Reggie asks.

Julie snorts, “I’ll have you know that I won that ‘Star Search show thing’.”

“So,” Luke begins gently, “you won the show and then died? That’s some rotten luck.”

“If only it had been that simple,” Julie says bitterly. Noticing the questioning look the boys shoot at her she speaks again, “That’s part of my backstory you haven’t unlocked yet. I don’t even know your names.”

Luke pulls back a step and all three send her apologetic smiles.

“I’m Luke.”

Reggie waves jauntily, “Reggie.”

“I’m Alex. It’s nice to meet you, Julie.”

“Nice and bizarre,” Luke says quietly, Reggie steps up and smacks him lightly across the back of the head.

“Alex said we had to show some compassion, remember,” Reggie says, jerking his head unsubtly towards Julie, “it’s not nice to insult cute ghosts.”

Julie snorts again as Alex sighs loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I can only apologise for the two idiots I call my band-mates.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Julie says, “I’m sure if it was the other way around I’d have run away screaming and then tried using my cross to ward you off.”

Reggie, Luke and Alex all grin broadly at the mental image her description conjures up. 

“I bet you would have scared the ghost versions of us,” Luke says.

“Oh definitely!” Julie laughs, “You definitely would have screamed the loudest.”

Reggie and Alex chortle loudly at this. “Two seconds with you and she’s got you figured out already,” Reggie says through his laughter.

Luke flicks his middle finger at Reggie without glancing over his shoulder as Julie begins to laugh earnestly. 

“So,” Alex steps in again, leaving the other two to feud silently behind him, “where’re you going to go? Now that you’re back in the land of the living and all?”

Julie’s laughter stops abruptly and she wraps her arms tightly around her chest, “I don’t know. I’m not entirely sure how this whole ghost-but-not-a-ghost thing works,” she closes her eyes and scrunches her faces briefly before looking at Alex again, “but I don’t seem to be able to pop back to the weird ghost room so I guess I’m stuck here now.”

Luke and Reggie straighten to look at her (in the ten seconds that Julie has been focussed on Alex, Luke has managed to get Reggie in a headlock and, in return, Reggie has wrapped his legs around Luke’s) before grabbing Alex’s hands and dragging him off to the corner of the room. 

Luke holds up one finger to Julie in the universal ‘give us a minute’ gesture before diving into the huddle Alex and Reggie have formed. Julie can hear various mutters and whispers but not enough to make out what the boys are saying. She takes the few quiet seconds to glance around the room, noticing that the chairs her mum had attached to the ceiling (“you’ve got to believe in the magic of our music, Julie,” her mum had told her, “otherwise those chairs will fall down” - of course as Julie had grown older she had noticed the screws holding the chairs upside down but by then it had been too late to stop believing in the magic of music, Julie had been convinced); she noticed the same licks of peeling paint on the studio doors; and, finally, the same grand piano she and her mum used to share. Julie breath stutters as the sight of the instrument brings a lifetime of moments flooding back.

Before she can dwell on the memories she hasn’t thought about in years (25 years, apparently), she hears a clearing of throats and swings her gaze back where Alex, Reggie and Luke are watching her curiously.

Julie smiles at them, hoping to disguise how much this room had already affected her.

“We’ve talked about it,” Luke begins, “and the vote was unanimous: if you need a place to stay, you can stay here.”

Alex and Reggie grin at her encouragingly and Julie feels her own smile grow in response, “Are you sure? You’re not concerned about me haunting you?”

Luke sniggers behind his hand; Reggie rolls his eyes good-naturedly and Alex smiles gently and says, “we think if you were going to haunt us, your introduction probably wouldn’t have been “Hi! I’m Julie!” ”

Julie chuckles, “I suppose you’re right!”

A few seconds of silence go by before Reggie clears his throat awkwardly, “well, we’re all going to bed” - Luke glances at him in surprise but Alex grabs his hand and drags Luke from the room before he can protest - “make yourself at home, Julie!” 

Reggie follows Alex and a reluctant Luke from the room, switching off the lights and leaving Julie in the dark, alone. She can hear the boys bickering quietly through the closed door and despite everything she has learned today, a warm feeling takes over her. Julie takes Reggie’s words to heart and begins to make herself at home.


	5. Chapter 5

Julie doesn’t really know if she sleeps or not. She wavers in and out of existence (it’s a bizarre experience watching her own limbs become more or less opaque at random intervals), blipping to a state of nothingness whilst remaining within the physical space of the studio - Julie still can’t figure out if she can get back to where she came from or if that space has gone forever. She can also hear the boys sleeping in the other room. One of them - Julie has a suspicion it’s Luke - snores occasionally and someone else (again, Julie has her suspicions, ahem, _Reggie_ ) mutters and mumbles in his sleep. Alex must be a deep sleeper, Julie thinks to herself, either that or he’s just used to putting up with the various disturbances of the other boys. All in all, Julie’s night is more unsettling and less restful than she had been hoping for, but not much different to what she would have expected as her first proper night as a ghost.

But, come morning, Julie is feeling good. Settled. Being back in her mum’s studio has made her feel happy(-ish) again. In the moments when she is corporeal, Julie explores the studio again - tracing her fingers along the familiar furniture; out of habit, she steps over the floorboards she knows to be creaky; staring at the chairs that are still attached to the ceiling. Everything remains familiar and permeated with her mother’s touch, the tendrils of her musical magic woven into every fibre of the building. 

The familiarity of the studio is both glorious and heart-breaking. Julie couldn’t have picked a better place for her ghost-self to have made a reappearance but - Julie wipes away the tears that threaten to spill over, _again_ \- with each unnecessary breath, the memories threaten to overwhelm her. Everything, good and bad, that happened in her life spins round and round in Julie’s mind, a kaleidoscope of colours and conflicting emotions that shatters the final strings of Julie’s resolve and she collapses (melodramatically) to the carpet.

Reggie finds Julie on the floor shortly after. He sneaks out of the back room, tiptoeing cartoonishly across the studio to the kitchen. Julie watches, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud, as she watches Reggie silently attempt to get breakfast. Ninja-like, Reggie is not, Julie thinks as he knocks the packet of cornflakes from the counter, an explosion of the golden flakes coating the floor from one end of the room to the other, then (after half-heartedly pushing the cornflakes underneath the cupboards with his socked feet) Reggie puts a Poptart into the toaster. 

Reggie clearly has a song in his head as he dances quietly around the kitchen. He bobs his head and pretends to air-drum before spinning around and knocking an apple from the counter. Julie bursts out a laugh which startles Reggie from his routine. 

“What’cha doing on the floor there?” Reggie stage-whispers, making his way across the studio, crunching through the drifts of cornflakes.

“Just, you know,” Julie shrugs, “thinking about the whole existential existence thing and then I slightly spiralled onto the tangible reality of my death.”

“Oh, is that it?” Reggie grins, lying down on the floor beside her. “You sound like Alex. Boy, he can expound on the whole ‘meaning of life’ thing.”

Julie sighs, stroking her thumb across her fingertips, “I get that I’m dead, the whole ghost thing was a bit of a giveaway, but hearing it from you guys, and just being back in this room-” she gestures widely around the studio - “it’s all just made it really real and I’m just feeling a bit... _weird_.”

Reggie makes an understanding noise and moves his hand across to the space between his and Julie’s bodies. Julie puts her hand down beside his, not touching but near enough to pretend that she could be comforted by Reggie’s touch if she wanted to hold his hand. 

The silence stretches on, comfortably and amicably, as Julie considers and rephrases what she wants to say next, how to explain the enormity of what she’s feeling.

Reggie clears his throat and speaks softly, “it’s okay you know.” He turns his head to look at Julie and when she raises an eyebrow questioningly, Reggie clarifies, “it’s okay not to be okay. It took me a long time to realise that - hell, it took all of us a long time. We all have shit going on and we’re lucky we have each other and yeah… You’ll get there.”

“Thank you, Reggie,” Julie says quietly, smiling gently.

Reggie returns her smile before turning his head away and staring at the ceiling again. For several minutes, Julie and Reggie sit quietly, Reggie muttering lyrics under his breath as Julie considers everything he has said.

“Eh, Reggie…” Julie starts tentatively, blinking back to the moment, “why can I smell burning?”

“Oh shit!” Reggie exclaims, “My Poptart!”

He leaps from the floor and sprints towards the kitchen where grey smoke is swirling from the toaster. Julie clutches at her stomach as she rolls on the floor, tears in her eyes with the force of her laughter. Reggie grabs at the Poptarts (blowing out the small flame that emerges from the top of one slice) and throws them down on the counter where they shatter into pieces.

Reggie meets Julie’s eye across the studio and his expression is so wounded and forlorn that Julie cannot help but laugh harder. 

The commotion obviously wakes Alex and Luke as the two boys stumble from the back room. Alex looks like he has stepped out of a magazine - his hair is smooth, his pink hoodie is clean, even his shoelaces are tied; Luke, on the other hand, looks like (as Julie’s mother used to say) he’s been dragged through a hedge backwards: his hair sticks up at various unusual angles and he is wearing last night’s shirt (complete with tomato sauce stains). Luke has managed to put his socks on but, Julie spots with a grin and more giggles, neither match and one of them is more hole than sock.

Alex looks between his bandmate and the ghost-girl rolling around on his floor, rolls his eyes before popping in his headphones and walking out of the studio, waving at Reggie, nodding briefly at Julie. Before the door closes behind him, Julie hears him greeting someone named Willie and raises her head off the floor to see but the door slams shut before she can catch a glimpse. 

Luke takes a long look at Julie and then an even longer look at Reggie, “really Reggie? Burning poptarts _again_?”

Reggie points a finger at Luke accusingly, “don’t you dare judge me! I’ll tell Julie about your favourite snack - eggs and peanut butter!”

Luke clutches his chest dramatically, “I always knew you would stab me in the back, Reginald! But to do it in front of a guest!”

Julie snorts at the boy's antics as Reggie begins to throw Poptart crumbs at Luke, most of which land in Luke’s hair, and Luke launches himself towards the kitchen, skidding on the floor in his socks, ending up on the floor in a pile of cornflakes. 

Julie cannot help but collapse back to the floor, helpless against her amusement as Luke grabs Reggie’s ankle and drags him down to the floor.

“Join me among the breakfast ruins, dear boy!” Luke yells as he and Reggie wrestle. “There is no escape!”

Reggie shrieks as Luke licks the side of his face before Luke leaps to his feet and dashes off into the back room. Julie wrinkles her nose as she watches Reggie pull his sleeve down over his hand and use it to scrub his face clean.

“You’re an actual heathen, Luke Patterson,” Reggie calls after Luke, sitting up from the breakfast rememants, running a hand through his hair causing a dusting of crumbs to land on his shoulders. 

Julie finally manages to stifle her laughter and drag herself from the carpet, perching on the sofa as Luke re-emerges from the other room (wearing essentially the same outfit as he was when he went in, Julie notices, the shirt is still sleeveless, it’s just stain-free this time around).

Luke catches Julie’s eye and smiles, starting towards her across the studio, “morning, Molina!”

“Morning, Luke,” Julie says, holding up a hand in a ‘ _wait there_ ’ gesture “is that how you greet people every morning? Licking them?”

Luke’s grin becomes wolfish and he raises his arms as if to hug her, “of course! And I wouldn’t want you to miss out!”

Luke leaps towards where Julie is sat, or was sat before she makes a dramatic dive off of the sofa, out of reach of Luke’s (well-muscled, Julie notices) arms and the attached saliva. She scrambles away as Luke launches off the sofa after her. He chases her across the studio, she leaps over Reggie’s outstretched legs and ends up opposite Luke, one of them on either side of the piano. 

“You know,” Julie grins, “you’re awfully familiar for someone I only met yesterday.”

“Don’t be coy,” Luke says, wiggling his eyebrows, “you know you want me.”

Julie rolls her eyes, snorting derisively, “you’re so not cute.”

Luke stalks around the side of the piano, “rude. You can just call me pretty.”

He takes a flying leap and his arms close around where Julie was standing, except she has blinked away and now sits on the upper floor of the studio, legs dangling through the banisters.

“Pretty stupid,” Julie calls, winking at Luke as he snaps his gaze to her, a delighted grin on his face.

“Dayum,” Reggie whistles, resting his arm on Luke’s shoulders, having finally made his way out of the cornflakes and dusted himself off. “I think that’s officially 1-0 to Julie.”

Luke ruffles Reggie hair (“hey! I just fixed that!”) and points an accusing finger at Julie, “you don’t know what you’ve just started.”

“I think I can handle it,” Julie grins back.

Reggie snorts and salutes Julie as he drags Luke from the studio, “we gotta go - I've already missed my first class - but we’ll see you later!”

Both boys disappear through the door, slamming it behind them. Julie has barely time to blink before the door reopens and Luke dashes back in, grabbing a set of keys from the coffee table, and rushing back towards the door. 

Glancing back at Julie he grins broadly, “catch you later, Julie Molina!”

Julie waves as Luke leaves again, the slamming door and revving engine signalling the boys’ departure. Julie sighs happily, resting her head on her hands as she gazes down on the studio, a small but fond smile on her face.

* * *

As the day goes on, Julie finds herself drawn towards the piano. Each time she finds herself sitting at the stool or stroking the ivories tenderly, Julie pops away in shock, usually ending up sitting in the loft glaring down on the piano, daring it to tempt her again. 

Several hours later, after exploring every kitchen cupboard and dusty corner of the studio, Julie steps on a cracked floorboard, which groans slightly. Glancing down, Julie sees the knot in the wood and her breath hitches. Kneeling down softly, Julie uses her fingertips to try and prise the floorboard up, growing frustrated with each attempt as her hands disappear through the floor. Julie groans and curses, wondering why she has no problem touching the piano keys but cannot remove this simple floorboard from where it lies. Clenching her fists, Julie wills her hands to grow solid, just for a moment, to allow her this one thing. 

Julie glares at the floor and grazes her fingers along the wood, locating the edge and, sighing deeply, digs her fingers into the gap. Shockingly, her fingers stay solid enough for Julie to remove the floorboard (which she quickly tosses to the side) and grab the purple box hidden in the hollow underneath.

“Julie’s Dream Box,” is scrawled across the top of the lid, and glitter sheds from the sides as Julie carries the box delicately towards the piano. Just as she reaches the piano, Julie’s grasp on her solid form fails and the Dream Box is sent spiralling out of her hands. 

The box crashes to the floor shooting various pieces of aged paper and other trinkets across the space under the piano. Julie ducks down quickly, scrambling to collect the final tangible pieces of her life. Luckily, the strange rules of Julie’s ability to touch or not touch items allow her to collect the paper and she traces her hands across them fondly. 

Memories flood back as Julie rifles through the ragged edged sheets in front of her. Julie and her mum had spent so many hours together, tinkering on this same piano, crafting, coaxing and creating melodies out of nothing but half-formed ideas and a love for music. Julie startles as a tear hits the score in front of her. More tears begin to fall as Julie moves her hand to wipe her eyes and spots the inscription in the bottom corner of the page.

“You can do it, Julie. Love mum,” it reads. Although Julie’s heart isn’t still beating, she discovers that it is still definitely capable of breaking and, in that second, her heart shatters again. She weeps for the family she has lost, the final arguments and the music in her heart that is begging to be let out, to be set free and heard again.

Julie staggers tentatively to her feet, clutching the sheaf of paper to her chest. She traces one hand around the edge of the piano, moving towards the familiar spot on the piano stool. Her hands are trembling as she places the score on the shelf in front of her - not that she needs it, even 25 years later, Julie knows this score by heart - and settles her hands on the ivories. 

The first chord rings out and something swells in Julie’s chest. She realizes how much she’s missed this, not even since she died and then un-died, but when she was alive and not playing, Julie missed the connection to her music, the purest connection to her mum. 

The light from the sun turns golden, matching the growing pride and joy Julie feels in her chest. She begins to sing, shakily at first, her voice cracking and crumbling under the strain of disuse but, as her vocal chords warm, her true, angelic voice returns and Julie feels whole.

_And you use your pain_

_'Cause it makes you you_

_Though I wish I could hold you through it_

_I know it's not the same_

_You got living to do_

_And I just want you to do it_

Her mother’s words ring through the studio space, swirling around Julie, encasing her in the musical legacy of her and her mother’s love. Julie begins to cry but she doesn't stop playing, singing proudly even as her voice trembles.

_So wake that spirit, spirit_

_I wanna hear it, hear it_

_No need to fear it, you're not alone_

_You're gonna find your way, oh_

With each line, it hits Julie just how well her mum knew her. Even after all of these years apart, the lyrics hit home, burying themselves in Julie’s heart, burning themselves across her soul. As Julie belts out the final verse she comes to a glorious realization - Julie will never have to say goodbye to her mum, to her family, so long as she keeps making music, Julie has the purest connection to them she could ever hope for.

_Wake up, wake up if it's all you do_

_Look out, look inside of you_

_It's not what you lost_

_It's what you'll gain raising your voice in the rain_

_Wake up your dream and make it true_

_Look out, look inside of you_

_When you feel lost_

_Relight that spark, time to come out of the dark_

_Wake up, wake up_

Julie doesn’t have any time to dwell on the enormity of what she has just done as - with the final note still ringing out - the door to the studio bursts open, and Alex stumbles through, wrapped around another boy (a boy with luscious hair, Julie snorts lightly, which Alex clearly appreciates as he has both hands woven into it). The pair are clearly oblivious to the stunned and - _ahem_ \- embarrassed Julie, rooted to her spot on the stool - although Julie isn’t sure if Alex’s make-out partner can even see her.

Julie remains where she is for a couple more seconds but, as things between the boys heat up a bit (both shedding their shirts) she makes the decision to blink away. Luckily, in that moment her powers seem to function well and she is able to disappear just before Alex steps into the hole left by the floorboard Julie moved, sending Alex and Willie sprawling onto the floor. 

“What the fuck?” Alex huffs, eyeing the hole in the floor.

Willie laughs from where he lies on Alex’s chest, “what a fortuitous hole!”

Alex groans as he bumps his forehead against Willie’s, “I’m not sure that’s the way you want to phrase that one, babe.”

Willie snorts, biting his lip, “I just have such a way with words, a true hopeless romantic.”

“You’re hopeless alright,” Alex says before capturing Willie’s lips in a searing kiss.

Willie pulls away briefly, “I feel I should protest but first…”. Willie crashes his lips to Alex’s again, kicking off his shoes as he does so.

Neither boy notices the Dream Box lying on the floor, too wrapped up in each other to acknowledge the existence of the outside world. 

* * *

Julie remains in a sort of limbo for couple of hours, hiding, semi-transparent, in a spot where she can see the door to the studio but cannot be seen (okay, Julie’s hiding in a bush, so sue her if she hasn’t quite mastered her ghostly powers yet) until she sees Luke and Reggie arrive home, roughhousing on their short walk from the car to the studio.

The boys enter the studio and she hears distant cries of, “my eyes, Alex!” and “your eyes?! Do you not know how to knock?” and “knock? Why didn’t you leave a sock on the door or text us ‘hey guys. don’t come home, banging willie.’. Julie then hears crashing, cursing and laughter as someone (presumably Alex) throws something at Luke and Reggie.

Moments later, Alex and the lusciously-haired boy - presumably Willie - appear at the door, haphazardly dressed but clearly happy, holding hands and gazing softly at each other. Alex kisses Willie before turning to let go and go back inside.

Willie takes advantage of Alex’s slight unbalance and spins him back around for one final kiss, “I’ll call you later.”

Alex’s blush is clear even from where Julie crouches, as he nods shyly, turning his back and disappearing into the studio. Willie takes a deep breath, clearly collecting himself before he turns, collects a skateboard that Julie hadn’t noticed before, and skates away.

Julie hears Reggie calling her name so she closes her eyes and pops back into the studio. 

All three boys greet her, Reggie grins broadly as he shows her his Poptart (“I didn’t even slightly burn this one!”) before Luke asks, “where did you disappear to?”

Julie swallows, glancing between Luke and Alex, “eh, well, I was here and then Alex came back and....”.

Julie and Alex both blush furiously as they avoid eye contact with each other, Luke and Reggie clutch each other as they dissolve into giggles.

“Willie is my boyfriend,” Alex mumbles quietly, twisting his fingers together.

Julie looks at him, “oh.”

Luke and Reggie suddenly straighten, coming to flank where Alex sits. Alex seems to close in on himself, his shoulders sinking as he grabs his elbows, holding himself tightly.

“What do you mean, ‘oh’?” Luke grinds out, glaring at Julie as Reggie places a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder.

Julie glances up, realization dawning in her eyes, “no, no!” She holds up her hands in surrender, “I didn’t… I didn’t mean it as a bad ‘oh’. I just wasn’t expecting that on day two of knowing you.” Julie glances between all three boys who are looking at her with a mixture of emotions: somewhere between anger, disappointment and confusion. 

Julie continues, “it’s just that, when I was still alive, being a boy and having a boyfriend, or being gay,” she gestures vaguely to Alex, “wasn’t something you just told people.”

“And you don’t approve?” Reggie asks, still squeezing Alex’s shoulder supportively.

“No, that’s the thing. I really do. I was...” Julie pauses to search for the right phrase, “My best friend in high school was gay and I was his ‘girlfriend’-” using her fingers to add air quotes for emphasis- “at like, family parties and stuff, to stop his family bothering him about it all.”

Now it’s Alex’s turn to say, “oh.”

“Yeah,” she sighs. “I wonder what happened to him after I died,” Julie muses.

Reggie, Luke and Alex exchange looks, both delighted that their new ghost-guest isn’t homophobic and devastated that they have just dredged up more memories for her.

Alex catches Julie’s eye and smiles, a genuine smile that makes his eyes light up, “I’m sure he’s okay. Heck, maybe he’s even married now!”

Julie’s face brightens, “they legalized gay marriage?!”

“Damn right they did!”

“Nick always wanted to get married,” Julie says, still wistful but marginally less woeful-looking than moments before.

“Well,” Reggie interjects awkwardly, “now that we don’t have to kick you out of the studio for not being cool with Alex and Willie” (Luke and Alex groan at their bandmate’s lack of subtlety) “I think it’s time for food.”

“You always think it’s time for food,” Alex laughs, leaning back on the sofa to look up at Reggie.

“And I am always right,” Reggie grins, ducking to avoid Luke grabbing his shoulders as Alex rises from the sofa. 

Luke and Reggie wrestle as they make their way to the kitchen, Alex steps towards Julie, making a move to put his hand on her shoulder before realising what he is doing and rapidly reversing the gesture.

“I’m glad your friend had someone like you,” Alex mumbles softly. “You’re going to fit in fine here, Julie.”

Alex turns to join the others in the kitchen when Luke and Reggie appear back in the doorway.

“Who are we kidding?” Luke yells. “We can’t cook.”

“We’re ordering pizza,” Reggie shouts.

“Of course you are,” Alex laughs. “You are both disasters who have little to no culinary taste.”

Reggie raises his eyebrows pointedly, “so, do you not want pizza then?”

“Fuck off! Of course I want pizza!”

Julie sits back and watches as the three boys bicker, arguing back and forth about pizza toppings before ordering three separate pizzas (“don’t forget the garlic bread!” Reggie adds). Strangely, the bickering makes her feel more at home - she and her brother used to have the same argument every time they ordered pizza. 

Luke, Reggie and Alex eventually flop down onto the sofa, piling together at the opposite end to where Julie is currently sat. They are now fighting over the remote control, starting another argument about what show to watch.

“Julie,” Alex asks, grinning at her from his position, half on top of Reggie, half underneath Luke, “do you think we should watch Buffy or something inferior?”

Julie startles, she wasn’t expecting them to ask her opinion. Nervously she says, “I’ve never seen Buffy. Was it out in 1995?”

Reggie smacks Alex’s forehead in an affectionate gesture, “you idiot.”

“At least that’s made the decision for us - Buffy it is,” Luke says, grabbing the remote and queuing up the first episode. 

The boys fall silent and Julie takes a moment in the dark of the opening credits to study them and their easy affection. Her heart swells and Julie relaxes further into her corner of the sofa. In just two days these boys have wormed their way into Julie’s heart, and watching them interact with each other makes Julie feel warm and safe. The credits end and the show begins, Julie tears her eyes away from Alex, Luke and Reggie and focuses on the screen in front of her, ready to lose herself whatever ‘Buffy’ is. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! 
> 
> i just wanted to write this quick note to say how much i appreciate all of your love and support with this story. i get so excited everytime i get a notification that someone has left kudos or a comment on this work, you have no idea how much the support means to me. so, thank you all!
> 
> i hope you enjoy this chapter, i wrote it all in a bit of a mixed up order (because i'm trying to write two fics at once because i'm an idiot) but hopefully i've fixed it so it all works (it's currently unbeta'ed). i also have the next chapter pretty much written so hopefully i'll have that up mid week.
> 
> once again, thank you all for the support! i hope you enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

**2020**

The next few weeks find Julie continuing to practise her music again, hiding it from the boys by only performing when they are out for the day. Julie plays through all of the music she finds in her dream box, struggling through the onslaught of memories she experiences each time she plays a song for the first time.

When she runs out of the familiar scores, Julie goes searching in the studio for other songs she can play. She manages to find the odd scrap of music, left out from when the boys have been playing. Sometimes the scores Julie finds are clearly drum parts, written by Alex but lyric-less (these pieces are excellent warm-ups as they require Julie to play rapidly and utilise the full spectrum of tones on the piano (okay, Julie makes them more challenging for herself tonally but hey, she loves a challenge)); other pieces are more country inspired and contain lyrics about horses, cowboy hats and big cars - Julie knows these belong to Reggie and they are so much fun to play that Julie wastes hours on them. 

Luke leaves fewer pieces around for Julie to steal. She knows he keeps all of his lyrics in his journal, which he carries everywhere, but (even when Luke had forgotten his journal on the table that one night) Julie won’t dare to open it to have a look. Julie knows how precious and personal lyrics can be to people, and she would never betray a fellow musician (or her new friend) by looking at something so private.

Instead, Julie takes to sitting in on the boys band practices (although, she’s not entirely sure they constitute a band at the moment) memorising the chords Luke plays, transposing them in her head to play at her next rehearsal. 

Luke, Alex and Reggie love having Julie at practises, even if it doesn’t make them instantly back into the band they once were. Each of them appreciates her musical opinion - sometimes it’s easier to take advice from someone not directly involved - and Julie has a lot of ideas which, over time, the boys begin to incorporate into their music. Small suggestions like different chord progressions, or rhythm changes are eagerly accepted by the boys but, when Julie tries suggesting tweaks to some of their lyrics, Luke becomes defensive.

“Look,” he says one night, clutching his journal to his chest, “I’m not doubting your musical prowess but these are Sunset Curve songs and I don’t think you can help improve them.”

Julie looks momentarily affronted but takes a step back, smiling gently, “no problem.”

Alex and Reggie find her at the end of that particular practise, sitting down on either side of her on the sofa as Luke busies himself in the kitchen (Julie wrinkles her nose at the thought of what concoction he is whipping up this time).

“You know he didn’t mean anything by it,” Alex says softly, gesturing to the kitchen. “Luke’s just a bit protective over his songs since Event X.”

At Julie’s quizzical look, Reggie clears his throat to explain, “we-” gesturing to Alex and himself, then waving towards Luke- “used to be a band, a proper band. Sunset Curve. But the band was four of us.”

“Yeah,” Alex continues, “we had another guitarist and he, well, he betrayed us.”

“Bo... the guitarist went behind our backs, stole Luke’s songs and sold them. He cost us our record deal and everything just went to shit.”

“So,” Julie says, “now Luke’s rightfully protective of his music?”

“Bingo!” Alex calls.

“He doesn’t mean it personally,” Reggie says, smiling at Julie.

“Don’t worry. I don’t take it personally,” Julie says. “I just have ideas about the lyrics, that’s all.”

“You think your lyrics would be better than mine?” Luke asks through a mouthful of sandwich as he reappears from the kitchen.

Julie shrugs, “not better, necessarily, just different. But, I’m not going to force my ideas onto you. You’re giving me a place to stay and all.”

Luke chews slowly, gazing at Julie, considering something. Reggie and Alex sit silently (from what Julie can see from the corner of her gaze, they are texting each other) waiting for Luke to make a move.

Luke makes a decision, cocking his head before reaching into his journal and withdrawing a piece of music. He hands it to Julie (who is able to grab it with no problems) whilst taking a bite out of the sandwich in his other hand. 

Julie studies the music - a song titled ‘Bright’ - in her hand, her mind already crossing out and changing some lyrics.

“Have at it,” Luke says, nodding towards the song. “I wrote this one a while ago but it’s never felt quite done.”

Julie smiles at him, “do I have a time limit?”

“Oh, she’s cocky,” Alex stage-whispers as Reggie laughs.

Luke raises an eyebrow, considering, swallowing his bite of sandwich, “can you have it done for practise tomorrow?”

Julie nods, “consider it done.”

* * *

As soon as Luke, Alex and Reggie leave the next morning, Julie gets to work. She unfolds ‘Bright’ and traces her fingers over the words. The song is good, the melody is solid and the basis of the lyrics is there, it just needs tweaking.

“Although,” Julie thinks to herself, “Luke’s handwriting really is appalling.”

Julie sits at the piano, feverishly writing and rewriting the lyrics, playing the melody over and over until the notes are burned into her brain and her fingers can play the melody independently. 

Several versions later, Julie has an almost complete song (the page is now covered in more scribbles than lyrics but she can fix that later) and she is pretty pleased with her day's work.

_Sometimes I_ ~~_feel_ ~~ _think I'm falling down_

 _I wanna_ ~~_scream_ ~~ _cry, I'm calling out_

 _For one more_ ~~_go_ ~~ _try_ ~~_at feeling whole_ ~~ _to feel alive_

 _And when I feel lost and_ ~~_on my own_ ~~ _alone_

 ~~_I’m sure_ ~~ _I know that I can make it home_

 _Fight through the_ ~~_night_ ~~ _dark and find the_ ~~_light_ ~~ _spark_

Julie has just finished neatly re-writing her version of the song when Luke, Alex and Reggie all come through the studio door. Alex looks disgruntled and strides straight over to where Julie sits at the piano.

“Have you finished the song?” Alex asks. “Because apparently, someone-” he gestures to Luke- “has decided that hearing this should be more important to me than my date with Willie.”

Luke stands firm, folding his arms, “band bros before skateboarding hoes.”

Julie and Reggie share a look and burst into laughter, the combination of Luke’s serious expression but nonsense words pushing them over the edge.

“Did you just,” Alex seethes, “call Willie a ho?”

“I did, and I stand by it.”

Alex moves threateningly towards Luke and Reggie shouts to Julie, “I’d start playing if I were you. Otherwise we may have a dead body on our hands!”

Julie takes a deep breath before pushing the keys for the first chord. She shuts her eyes and loses herself in the music, fingers flying from one note to the next, voice gliding smoothly through the now familiar lyrics. 

She hears a slight shuffling of feet, and a sharp intake of breath as she progresses to the bridge but Julie keeps her eyes firmly closed, wanting to get through the whole song before getting the boys’ opinions. 

As the song comes to an end, Julie holds the final note before letting it drop. Opening her eyes she sees Alex, Reggie and Luke all staring at her (Reggie’s mouth gapes open slightly) and Julie drops her gaze to the piano, embarrassed.

“What do you think?” Julie asks.

A beat of silence follows and Julie begins to slide the pendant on her necklace along the chain anxiously, “guys?”

“That was amazing,” Reggie breathes.

“You killed it,” Alex says, giving her a thumbs up.

Julie looks to Luke, waiting to hear his verdict on her version of his song. She quirks an eyebrow at him as he opens and closes his mouth repeatedly.

Luke finally takes a breath and says, “yeah, yeah, okay, that’s better.”

Reggie whoops and grabs Luke around the shoulders, laughing delightedly at Julie’s stunned expression.

“Look at that,” Alex says, laughing, “our little boy is growing up and learning how to admit that sometimes having other people work on your music is a good thing.”

Julie chuckles at the expression on Luke’s face as he flips Alex the bird, “I can admit it! It just happens so rarely that I’m out of practise.”

Reggie pats Luke on the back, “whatever you say, dude, whatever you say.”

Julie hands Luke the new score (she has neatly re-written her new version but makes sure to give Luke his original back too) and the boys get to work. The three of them tinker with the new song, each taking time to figure out their individual parts, working with Julie on her adjustments, before coming together to perform the song as a band.

Julie settles back into the sofa to watch Alex, Reggie and Luke perform. As she watches, Julie realises that she has never seen them perform like this before - they are working together, playing as one, acting like a proper band. And they’re good. Really, really good. 

Each of them is so individually talented that when they come together the result is almost overwhelming. Their talents, combined with their close friendships, means that they can bounce off of one another, altering their music to complement the others without saying a word. Julie observes how the three of them interact when performing, Luke and Reggie make sure to turn to look at Alex, winking and smiling at him constantly, and Reggie and Luke share the microphone and strum their guitars back-to-back whenever the occasion allows. The show they’re giving Julie is a masterclass in showmanship, and she cannot imagine how amazing they must be when they play in front of a proper crowd. 

‘Bright’ comes to an end and the three boys come to a halt, breathing heavily, just taking the time to look at each other before Reggie whoops excitedly and Alex rushes out from behind his drums to grab Luke and Reggie in a fierce hug, twisting the fabric of the other boys’ shirts to pull them closer.

The boys hug for a moment longer before breaking apart (Luke surreptitiously wiping tears from his face) to face Julie.

“That was amazing,” Julie says, grinning enthusiastically. “Totally amazing!”

Alex, Luke and Reggie grin at each other as Reggie says, “Sunset Curve. Tell your friends!”

Julie laughs and it’s not long before the boys join in. The four of them laugh together for a glorious moment before Reggie’s stomach rumbles audibly.

Alex groans, “Let me guess. Pizza?”

Luke and Reggie look at each other and nod, “Pizza.”

Julie laughs again as Alex sends her an exasperated gaze before making his way to the kitchen, Reggie on his heels.

Luke catches Julie's eye and smiles, “thank you for that.”

Julie shakes her head, “don’t thank me. You wrote the song, that's all you.”

Luke shakes his head, “no, Julie. Thank you.”

Luke gives her a meaningful look and Julie cannot tear her gaze away. “You’re welcome, Luke.”

He gives her another soft smile before he wanders away to the kitchen where Alex and Reggie are now bickering about the best ice-cream flavour.

* * *

The day after Alex, Luke and Reggie’s musical breakthrough, playing the newly re-written ‘Bright’, they find Flynn and break the news. 

“That’s my boys!” Flynn says, hugging them all tightly. “Now, let me get to work getting you a gig.”

Somehow, despite Sunset Curve having been completely absent from the L.A. music scene for a few months, Flynn manages to book them a small show. 

“Small is the wrong word,” Flynn grins wryly, “I like to think of it as exclusive.”

Luke, Alec and Reggie roll their eyes at Flynn's economic version of the truth but, in reality, they know they are lucky to have scored even this small gig after such a long time away from the spotlight. They are also now a member short so even venues the band had played at before are wary to give their new ensemble a chance.

So, a week later, Alex, Luke and Reggie find themselves in the back room of the small venue, huddling together in their traditional pre-show ritual.

“Right boys,” Luke says, grinning (but, Alex and Reggie notice, in a forced manner), “hands in.”

Normally, this is where Sunset Curve (when it was a band of four) would put their hands together and break-apart, dramatically declaring “Legends!” to the sky. Tonight though, Alex, Luke and Reggie pile their hands together, exchange nervous and hesitant glances before slowly drifting apart. No pomp, no circumstance, just trembling hands and racing hearts.

Sunset Curve take their places on the stage, sharing one final look with each other before the lights dim to black. The boys take a deep breath as Luke delicately finger plucks the opening notes to the newly re-written ‘Bright’. Hardly a breath later (or so it feels to Luke), three spotlights burst brightly, highlighting Alex as he begins his drum rhythm and Reggie confidently playing his bass. Luke steadies himself, strumming the familiar chords before opening his mouth to begin the vocals.

And… Luke chokes. He stares out into the darkened crowd, mouth open but silent. Reggie and Alex exchange worried looks behind Luke’s head. The guitarist loses his rhythm, strumming chaotically, clashing with the music Reggie and Alex are continuing to play.

The strained music lasts for another bar before, suddenly, Julie blazes on to the stage in a ray of light. Luke stops playing completely, guitar hanging limply at his side, as Julie sings proudly, eyes closed in concentration.

_Sometimes I think I'm falling down_

_I wanna cry, I'm calling out_

_For one more try to feel alive_

_And when I feel lost and alone_

_I know that I can make it home_

_Fight through the dark and find the spark_

Julie turns to Luke who grins delightedly at her, swinging his guitar back into position and starting up his playing once more. Reggie and Alex share a similarly thrilled look as the crowd begins to scream.

Julie removes her microphone from the stand and makes her way across the stage, trailing her hand near (but not quite touching) the waving masses at the edge of the stage. She continues smoothly into the bridge, the tone of her voice lifting the song from its previous depths. Something clicks in the boys as they listen to Julie sing: she is the missing piece of their band.

Julie dances across to centre stage, rooting herself to the spot, taking a deep breath before belting the chorus. Reggie, Alex and Luke’s grins grow even wider as Julie hits every note (she’s so much better than Bobby ever was, all three think to themselves), the spotlight on Julie makes her look like she’s literally glowing and nobody in the room can take her eyes off of her.

_And rise through the night, you and I_

_We will fight to shine together, bright forever_

_And rise through the night, you and I_

_We will fight to shine together, bright forever_

Julie opens her eyes and looks at Luke meaningfully as she comes to the final lyrics. She can see him tense, bracing himself for his vocal part. Luke quickly makes eye contact with Reggie and Alex, who both grin encouragingly at him, before meeting his gaze to Julie’s again. She holds his look as Luke starts singing. 

_In times that I doubted myself_

_I felt like I needed somе help_

Julie lets out a soft “whoop” and spins around to dance with Reggie and Alex, trusting Luke to carry the rest of the verse alone. She starts to relax into the feeling of the performance, almost as if the energy of the room is making her glow brighter. 

_Stuck in my head with nothing left_

_I feel somеthing around me now_

_So unclear, lifting me out_

_I found the ground I'm marching on_

Julie grins again and winks at Reggie as she listens to the lyrics Luke is singing, thinking back to how she felt just weeks ago. Julie had felt so lost, so alone and so small. But then, in some bizarre, couldn’t-make-it-up twist of fate she had blipped into the lives of the three boys she now shares a stage with. And she couldn’t have imagined three better people to help her back into music.

Coming out of her brief reverie, Julie grins and Luke and moves towards him, encouraging him to share her microphone for the final parts of the song. 

_Life is a risk, but we will take it_

_Close my eyes and jump_

_Together, I think that we can make it_

_C'mon let's run_

_And rise through the night, you and I_

_We will fight to shine together, bright forever_

_And rise through the night, you and I_

_We will fight to shine together, bright forever_

Julie and Luke duet for the final lines, maintaining eye contact as the rest of the world drops away to nothing. They are now so close, sharing one microphone, that the pair could rest their foreheads together (if, you know, Julie was a proper, solid human). Julie’s honey eyes shut as she belts out the final note; Luke’s ocean eyes remain open, staring in awe at the girl-come-ghost before him. The hairs on his arms raise as the song comes to a close and the cheers and whistles from the crowd break into Julie and Luke’s bubble. 

Julie’s eyes pop open and, grinning breathlessly, she turns towards Reggie and Alex, who are making their way to the front of the stage. Luke slings his guitar round to his back before grabbing Reggie and Alex’s hands, walking to the front of the stage and, with Julie in tow, bow lowly before the screaming crowd. As they reach the bottom of their bow, the boys see a flash and feel a breath of wind as Julie blinks away.

The crowd hush for a second, stunned at the sudden disappearance of the lead singer. Alex, Reggie and Luke share panicked looks before Reggie yells, “and big thanks to the technical department! I think it’s safe to say the hologram was a hit!”

The boys hold their breath as they wait for Reggie’s words to sink in and, too many breaths later, the cheers erupt again. Luke, Alex and Reggie share a look of relief, take one final bow before dashing from the stage, still hand-in-hand, a human chain of bandmates disappearing from sight as the lights drop again. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Alex asks, whirling to face Luke and Reggie as soon as they are backstage. “How… why... what the fuck?”

“I don’t know, man,” Luke says, grabbing Alex’s shoulder and squeezing it gently. “But hey-” he shrugs- “we got away with it, right?”

Reggie grins broadly, “we did more than that - they loved us! They loved Julie!”

Alex and Luke wrap their arms around Reggie’s shoulders and the boys bend their heads to rest their foreheads on each other.

“We did it!” Luke grins.

“Yeah, but,” Alex sighs, Luke and Reggie pull their heads back to eye their bandmate with concern. “I think we’re going to need to rename the band!”

Alex, Luke and Reggie laugh heartily and pull each other in for another hug.

“We’re gonna be legends!” Luke yells, before burrowing his head into Alex’s shoulder. 


	7. Chapter 7

**2020**

“Well, that was certainly something, boys!” Flynn says from where she stands just inside the doorway that splits the backstage area from the still-cheering crowd.

Reggie, Alex and Luke slowly break away from their hug, exchanging unsure glances as they hear the underlying ice in Flynn’s tone.

“Eh, thank you!” Reggie says, hoping to ease the awkwardness, “Glad you liked the new song!”

“And your new singer.”

Flynn tosses her braids behind her shoulder then folds her arms across her chest, raising her eyebrows in what the boys all recognise as her “you’d better tell me everything now” expression.

Luke rubs the back of his neck nervously; Alex flips his drumstick around and around his fingers; Reggie drops his gaze and holds both of his elbows, making himself as small as possible.

Flynn taps her foot impatiently, “I’m waiting.”

Luke clears his throat, “that’s our new singer, Julie.”

Flynn waves her hand, indicating that Luke should continue.

“But she’s not able to be here in person.”

“Yeah,” Reggie says, “we’ve been working with her for a while to get her on stage without her actually being here.”

Flynn’s eyes narrow further, “so, let me just clarify: 1) you have been working with a new singer for weeks without telling me, your manager; 2) you are now lying to me about having a hologram singer?”

“We’re not lying to you, Flynn,” Alex says.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t do that,” Luke adds.

Flynn grits her teeth but the boys can see the hurt that flashes across her gaze, “you might want to figure out what story you’re telling me considering I arranged this whole show and never, once, did I mention to the tech guys anything about a hologram.”

“It’s… eh... well… it’s complicated,” Reggie says.

“Complicated or not, I want the truth next time I see you again,” Flynn tosses the van keys to Alex before turning on her heel to leave. She pauses just before the door slams shut, “just remember who organises all your shows-” Flynn snorts derisively- “none of you can even work Instagram!” 

Reggie, Luke and Alex wince as the door slams. Reggie twists his fingers into the sleeve of the flannel he has knitted around his waist; he hates it when people are angry and - although he knows Flynn won’t stay mad at them for long - Reggie is devastated by the turn the night has taken.

“Flynn’s right,” Reggie says quietly. “We should tell her the truth.”

“I bet she’ll be delighted with that,” Luke says, “Hey Flynn, you know our new singer? Well, you’re right, she’s not a hologram - she’s actually a ghost!”

“When you say it like that…”

Alex shushes Luke and Reggie before their discussion spirals any further. “I think,” he says, “we need to speak to Julie before we make any decisions.”

Alex looks meaningfully at Reggie and Luke, waiting for them both to nod in agreement before lifting his hand and jangling the van keys pointedly.

“Now, let’s get our equipment put away and get back to the studio.”

Reggie and Luke glance at each other again before Reggie says, “can we still get pizza?”

Alex sighs, burying his head in his hand, “yes, Reginald, we can still stop for pizza.”

Alex laughs as Luke and Reggie cheer. Alex watches on as his band mates whirl round the room gathering equipment, then race each other to the van before staggering back into the room when they remember that Alex has the keys. 

“Come on, slow poke,” Luke yells, “let’s go!”

Alex grabs the most manageable of his drums and staggers down the corridor after the other two. He laughs under his breath as he hears a distant crash and yell (“oh my god, Reggie, get your ass off of me!”).

* * *

Julie pops back into the studio, chest still heaving from her performance, hands trembling from the leftover adrenaline. She tries (and fails) to keep a broad grin from spreading across her face. 

“I just performed again,” Julie says to the empty room. She takes another breath before squealing loudly, “I can’t believe I did that!”

Julie raises her arms above her head and twirls round several times - it turns out, ghosts can get dizzy. After several rotations, Julie stops, staggering several steps to the side as she giggles. Slowly, Julie’s laughter subsides and her breathing returns to normal, then begins to rise again as the night’s events replay in her mind.

Julie begins to worry as she watches the clock tick for longer and longer - why aren’t Luke, Reggie and Alex back yet? Julie strokes her fingers up the outside of her arm, chest tightening as she considers why the boys are taking so long to come back.

“Maybe,” Julie thinks to herself, “they’re working on how to tell you that you ruined their performance and they want you to leave.”

“ _ No _ ,” another voice in Julie’s mind argues, “ _ that’s not true! You saw how happy they were! _ ”

“What if they were just filled with adrenaline, you used to get like that after your performances.”

“ _ Even if they don’t want me to perform with them, they wouldn’t just kick me out.” _

“You’ve only known them for a couple of months. Do you really know anything about them?”

Julie’s arguments continue on in her head, unearthing insecurities she had hoped had been laid to rest when she had died. What if the boys just keep her around because they feel sorry for her? What if they wanted her to leave but didn’t know how to tell her?

Julie’s chest heaves as the tears begin to sneak past her eyelashes, tracking their way down her cheeks. She reaches up and swipes her tears away just as she hears the van draw into the driveway. 

Julie glances at the door to the studio, waiting for another breath before blinking away - she can’t bear to face the boys tonight, not on the night when she was finally able to sing again. 

* * *

Luke, Alex and Reggie are laughing and wrestling each other as they exit the van, not even pretending to gather their instruments, instead focussing on carrying the various pizza boxes from the van to the studio.

Reggie notices the familiar purple-flash that indicates Julie has just blipped. He grins, darting towards the studio door. Reggie flings the door open, smile falling from his face as he realises the studio is empty, “Julie? Julie!”

Luke and Alex appear in the door behind Reggie, closing it softly behind them. A furrow appears between Luke’s eyebrows as he watches Reggie race from room to room, shouting Julie’s name.

Alex places his pizza box on the table and folds himself onto the sofa, Luke follows him, eyeing Reggie as their band mate appears in the doorway of the bedroom. 

“Julie’s not here,” Reggie says, eyes flicking back and forth between Luke, Alex and the grand piano. 

“Maybe she’s gone for a walk,” Alex says softly, “it must have been overwhelming for her to appear out of nowhere and then play in front of a crowd.”

“Yeah,” Luke adds, “remember, Julie hasn’t performed in more than 25 years.”

Alex nods, “plus, now there’s the whole ‘ghost’ thing.”

Reggie shrugs, “it’s weird that she’s not here through. Julie’s always here.”

Luke lifts an arm, jerking his head at Reggie, who is still turning his head side-to-side, searching every nook of the studio for any sign of Julie. Slowly, Reggie blinks, vision clearing as he makes his way across the studio and onto the spot on the sofa between Alex and Luke. Reggie tucks himself under Luke’s offered arm as Alex slings one of his long legs across Reggie’s lap.

“You’re right,” Alex says, reaching into his pizza box for another slice, “but remember how overwhelmed we all were after our first big performance. Luke paced continuously for three hours.”

“Like you were any better, Alex! I swear you must have spent an hour remembering how to breathe!”

“At least I didn’t set the kitchen on fire like young Reginald here!”

“Hey! I don’t think that was technically a fire. More like a couple of sparks!”

The three boys quickly turn their banter into a pillow fight, rolling around on the sofa (Luke ends up on the floor pretty quickly) until they are all breathing heavily, even more sweaty than they had been after their gig.

Luke catches Reggie’s eye and smiles, reassuringly, “I’m sure Julie will be back soon.”

“Plus,” Alex says, “how much trouble can a ghost get into anyway?”

* * *

Julie groans, rubbing the back of her head. She mentally checks the rest of her body for injuries, the ringing in her slowly ears quieting as Julie lies on the cool, rough concrete. Luckily ghosts can’t get injuries, it seems, as Julie rolls her shoulders and sits up, glancing sideways to the bundle of pink still lying on the pavement next to her.

“Hey,” Julie says, “are you okay?”

“Just peachy, thanks,” the other girl groans, reaching up to sweep her hair out of her face. “Normally being knocked out by some random ghost-girl who isn’t looking where she’s going isn’t on the top of my agenda but, hey, I’ll try anything once.”

“I am so sorry,” Julie says, offering the other girl a hand. The girl wrinkles her nose before taking Julie’s wrist and allowing herself to be hauled off of the floor as Julie continues, “I didn’t expect to crash into you. Everyone else has just passed through me-” she winces- “not that that is any more pleasant.” 

“That’s because they’re all lifers. Do you not know anything about being a ghost?”

“They’re what?”

The girl levels Julie with a long look, “lifers. It’s what us ghosts call those that are still alive.”

“Oh,” Julie says, looking around in wonder at the crowds passing by. “You’re the first ghost I’ve met. I’m Julie, by the way.”

The girl grasps Julie’s offered hand for the second time, a half-formed smirk on her face, “Carrie. So, you really know nothing about the whole ghost business then?”

Julie’s smile falls into a small frown as she shrugs, “I only arrived back here a couple of months ago and, as I said, you’re the first ghost I’ve met.”

Carrie’s eyebrows furrow, “when you say you arrived back, how did that happen exactly?”

“Luke, Alex and Reggie played some tapes of me performing in Star Search and they just kind of-” Julie pauses, waving her hand, searching for the right word- “summoned me back, I guess?”

“And these lifers - Lucas, Alec and Reggie? - are they big into ouija boards, ghost hunting or just general paranormal stuff?”

Julie shakes her head, “no, they’re just Luke, Alex and Reggie-” she enunciates the three names carefully- “they’re three teenage boys who play in a rock band -  _ Sunset Curve, tell your friends! _ \- and like performing music. We actually played a show tonight.”

Carrie’s eyebrows shoot towards her hairline as she lets out a small gasp, “what do you mean you performed? These lifers can see you?”

“Yes, they can. They let me live in their studio and I’ve helped them with some of their music,” Julie shrugs again. “The crowd could see me when I played with them tonight too. Is that weird?”

“I’ve never heard of any ghosts being seen by lifers - apart from in Caleb’s club of course.”

Julie blinks slowly several times, processing all of the new information Carrie has just given her. She runs through everything in her head before settling on the easiest bit of information, “who’s Caleb?”

“He owns Hollywood Ghost Club - you know, the club in uptown-” Julie shakes her head at Carrie’s expectant expression- “no? Well, it’s a place where certain lifers can experience the afterlife. For a price.”

“So, Caleb can make ghosts visible to lifers?”

Carrie nods, “I’ve never heard of any ghosts being visible without his help. Your boys must be special.”

Julie swallows back the lump that rises in her throat at the mention of Luke, Alex and Reggie. “They really are special but I’m not sure they want me around any more.”

“Well, I can speak to Caleb to see if we’ve got space for you,” Carrie says (Julie hears hesitance in Carrie’s voice but the pink-haired girl continues so Julie shrugs it off). “I would go and speak to your boys though, they sound like your best option.”

Julie smiles, “thank you, I will do that.”

Carrie shrugs, a small smile playing across her lips, “I’ll ask Caleb if he’s ever heard of any other ghosts who are able to be seen by lifers. Meet you back here in a couple of days and we can talk more?”

Julie’s smile broadens further, “I would like that. It was nice to meet you, Carrie.”

Carrie nods, giving Julie a brief wave before flashing away in a purple blaze. Julie takes one last look at the spot where Carrie has just vanished before she turns and pops back to the studio.

* * *

Julie appears back just outside the studio door, not wanting to pop immediately back into the studio, just in case the boys are asleep. She runs a hand over her unruly, windswept curls, taking several deep breaths before opening the studio door as quietly as she can. 

Julie steps through the door, spying the three boys piled on the sofa together, fast asleep (from what Julie can see Luke is drooling). A fond smile crosses her face as Julie turns back to close and lock the door - she manages to click the lock just before her hand passes straight through the metal. Breathing a sigh of relief, Julie turns back towards where Luke, Alex and Reggie lie.

Julie startles when she sees Reggie is watching her, his eyes reflecting the traces of moonlight that filter through the studio windows. Julie smiles hesitantly before making her way to the kitchen; she watches as Reggie carefully extricates himself from Alex and Luke’s embraces (as soon as Reggie is off the sofa, Luke rolls closer to Alex, burrowing himself in the drummer’s soft hoodie).

“Hey,” Reggie whispers, jumping up onto one of the counters in the kitchen, “you were amazing tonight.”

Julie blushes, ducking her head to avoid Reggie’s intense gaze, “you don’t need to be so nice, Reggie. I should be apologising for ruining Sunset Curve’s show.”

Reggie frowns, leaning his elbows on his knees and his chin on his folded hands, “what are you talking about?”

“I just… it wasn’t fair of me to jump in on your show like that,” Julie says, rolling the pendant of her necklace back and forth, “you guys have been working so hard and I just arrived and you were kind enough to let me live here and…”

Julie startles as Reggie jumps off of the counter to stand in front of her. 

“Julie,” Reggie says softly, waiting for Julie to tear her eyes away from Reggie’s feet and meet his gaze, “we love having you live here and we loved having you perform with us tonight.”

Julie blinks, startled into silence for the second time of the night. “So, you’re not angry I just-” she waves her hand- “appeared on your stage and took centre stage?”

“If it wasn’t for you blazing in, I’m not sure we would have made it through the performance.”

“What do you mean?”

Reggie shrugs, “Luke was choking, he couldn’t sing and I know I couldn’t have done the whole song either. Alex hid it well but I know he was struggling too. You gave us something to work with, you’re like the missing piece.”

Julie feels tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks. “Oh,” she breathes.

Reggie smiles and the tightness in Julie’s chest begins to loosen. She studies Reggie’s face for any traces of reluctance or uncertainty but all she sees is pride and happiness in his smile and the crinkles around his eyes. Julie lifts her gaze over Reggie’s shoulder to where Luke and Alex are still sleeping, curled into one another. The familiarity of the scene releases the final remnants of the tension Julie feels; the space in her chest immediately fills with warmth and lightness, Julie feels like she might start floating.

“You mean a lot to us, Julie. We were actually going to ask you to join the band officially.”

“You mean it?”

Reggie grins and Julie feels her own smile grow in response, “yeah, our manager, Flynn, has questions. Welcome to Sunset Curve!”

Julie giggles, careful not to wake her other band mates, “I think we might need a new band name!”

Reggie snorts, eyes widening, “that’s exactly what Alex said!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i hope you all had a lovely festive season and enjoy a positive start to 2021! 
> 
> i'm sorry this update is so late and a bit shorter than normal - this chapter really didn't want to make it's way from my brain to written form. i think writing my massive one-shot for my secret santa (which i definitely recommend you go and read hint, hint) drained my writing brain for a while but hey, it's here now.
> 
> i hope you enjoy this update. it's a bit of a filler chapter but i like the character interactions so here.
> 
> welcome to 2021 everyone!


	8. Chapter 8

**2020**

Carrie sighs as she adjusts her pink wig, making sure the edges are in the right place and brushing out the curls so they sit just so. She picks up her glittery jacket from where it rests on the back of her chair, sliding it on over the rest of her pink ensemble. Carrie casts another critical glance at herself in the mirror, adds a final swipe of lip gloss before making her way towards the door.

Before Carrie can open the door, it swings open, revealing the tall, imposing figure of Caleb Covington (show-ready, as always). He glances at Carrie’s outfit, gesturing for her to turn so he can assess each aspect of her look. Carrie stifles another sigh and does as he requests, turning slowly - Carrie takes the chance to roll her eyes when her back is turned to Caleb - before plastering a broad smile on her face.

“Good evening, Caleb,” Carrie says. “You’re looking wonderful - purple really is your colour!”

Caleb preens slightly at her praise, smoothing the velvet sleeves of his deep purple jacket, “thank you Miss Wilson. I must say, the pink hair finally brings your look together.”

Carrie’s smile doesn’t falter at Caleb’s backhanded compliment, she adds it to her list of ‘Reasons I Hate Caleb Covington’. “Thank you, Caleb. I hope Dirty Candy makes you proud this evening.”

Caleb reaches out a hand to gently grasp Carrie’s chin, titling her face up so that Carrie is forced to meet his gaze. “I never have any doubts about your performances, Carrie, I know you and the girls would never disappoint me.” Caleb narrows his eyes as he studies Carrie’s face, she swallows around his hand, trying to steady her nerves, “I can feel your pulse fluttering under my fingers, sweetheart. Have you something to tell me?”

Carrie maintains eye contact for a few seconds before she cannot help but wrench her gaze away, brushing Caleb’s hand off her chin as she takes a step back. “Something to tell you?”

“You don’t want to start this game with me,” Caleb says, voice lowering to a whisper as he leans into Carrie’s space. “I think you know who holds all of the power here. Now, Carrie, darling, I can sense there is something you are keeping from me. Please-” he waves a hand airly- “enlighten me.”

Carrie swallows. She was planning on telling Caleb about her meeting Julie but she hasn’t figured out how to phrase the words yet. Carrie had promised Julie she would speak to Caleb about her situation but there are things you don’t just tell Caleb Covington - Carrie knows this from experience. Unfortunately, any planning Carrie wanted to do is no longer an option. Carrie stands, bowing under the intense scrutiny of Caleb’s gaze and some sort of pressure (Carrie assumes it’s Caleb’s magic as the feeling is rolling off of him in waves) builds in her head until it breaks with a snapping sensation, causing the entire story to spill from Carrie’s mouth.

“I met a new ghost yesterday. She’s called Julie and has only recently returned to this plane of existence. Julie knows very little about being a ghost but was summoned by a group of teenagers through a non-spiritual act. Julie can teleport and is normally not solid, although she has moments where she can interact with the mortal world, like the rest of us - but she is able to be seen and heard by the three boys, a band apparently, all the time. Julie and her band were also able to perform a live show in front of a crowd of people recently and Julie was visible to all of the lifers in the crowd.”

Carrie huffs a long breath after she finishes her speech; she chances a glance at Caleb and sees that his smile is frozen on his face, his eyes narrowed as he dissects the information Carrie has just divulged.

“A ghost who can be seen by lifers? Without my help,” Caleb says in an undertone, “how fascinating. Julie and her band sound like an interesting group.” He straightens, as if just noticing that Carrie is still standing there. Caleb blinks and his smile grows, reaching out his hand again he traces down the length of Carrie’s pink wig, tugging gently on the tip of her curl, “you should be proud of yourself, my darling. This is very-” he waves with one hand as if searching for the right word- “interesting information and I am delighted you shared it with me.”

Carrie ducks her head, stepping around Caleb and out of her dressing room door, avoiding Caleb’s eyes as she passes, “thank you, Caleb. I think I should go, I wouldn’t want to miss my cue!”

Caleb watches as Carrie departs, mulling over what he has just been told. Caleb Covington is a collector of power and, without knowing anything else about this new ghost Julie (or her band of lifers, for that matter), he has spied a new opportunity; a new jewel for his crown, so to speak. And, as anyone who has ever known Caleb will tell you, Caleb Covington always gets what he wants.

* * *

Julie comes to before the boys wake (this is not an unusual occurrence, in fact Julie worries more on the days when Luke manages to drag himself out of bed without Alex or Reggie’s encouragement). She hasn’t quite grasped the whole ‘drift-in-an-out-of-existence’ thing yet; her nights are spent not quite sleeping but definitely not awake either and Julie has given herself many headaches trying to puzzle out her periods of consciousness. 

This morning, Julie re-materializes curled in the corner of the sofa, basking in the sunlight. She stretches and groans softly as her muscles loosen, tilting her head to the left she releases another breath as he neck pops. Julie stretches out along the sofa, getting as much of her body in the sunlight as possible: she points her toes alternately as she reaches the opposite arm above her hand.

“You look like a cat when you do that.”

Julie opens her eyes and tilts her head lazily to the side, resisting the urge to sigh as the sun reaches the exposed sliver of skin on her stomach where her t-shirt rides up. Luke is standing in the doorway to the boy’s bedroom, leaning one shoulder on the doorframe, arms folded against his chest (Julie rolls her eyes when she spots he already has his beanie on).

“Honestly, I’ve always thought that cats have the ideal life,” Julie says, bringing a hand down and counting off on her fingers as she lists each of the reasons, “they get to sleep all day; people let them get away with so much shit; cats can jump from high heights and not hurt themselves; people allow cats to bite them and claim it’s their love language…”

Luke laughs, “you’ve thought a lot about this, then?”

“I wanted to be reincarnated as a cat.”

“Yeah? And how’s that working out for you?”

Julie grins at Luke’s raised eyebrows, “well, you did just compare me to a cat so something must be going right!”

Luke snorts, pushing himself off of the doorframe, padding across the studio in his sock-clad feet. Humming to himself, Luke disappears into the kitchen. Julie closes her eyes, wiggling on the sofa cushions to nestle further into the softness as she listens to various tinkling, clattering noises emanating from the kitchen.

Several minutes later, the clattering stops and Luke emerges from the kitchen, stacked plate in his hand, a half-eaten piece of toast hanging from his mouth. He glances at the sofa, smiling softly as he watches Julie scrunch further up the sofa, chasing the warmth of the sun as it moves. 

Luke grins to himself and he makes a decision. Rolling his weight up onto the balls of his feet, Luke begins to stalk silently across the room, wincing when he steps onto a floorboard and it creaks. He pauses, waiting, until Julie sighs again, her eyes remaining defiantly closed. Luke’s smile broadens as he continues his journey across the room. 

Slowly, Luke positions himself so that he stands over Julie, hanging his head upside down over where Julie’s head rests. Luke crouches down, bringing his face closer to Julie’s. He takes a moment to study her long eyelashes, golden, caramel skin and unruly curls before letting out a loud yell.

“JULIE!”

Julie’s eyes shoot open and she bolts upright, her head passing through Luke’s chest as she does so. Luke stumbles back, giggling to himself as Julie glares at him.

“You are the literal worst, Patterson.”

Luke takes a deep breath to steady himself, “I couldn’t resist.”

Julie narrows her eyes further but, unexpectedly, this causes Luke to start laughing more heartily.

“You look like Grumpy Cat!” Luke wheezes, his booming laugh echoing around the studio. Julie watches, a small smile playing on her lips. Luke takes another choked breath, “stop, stop! I can’t!”

Reggie and Alex appear in the doorway of their room and take a long moment to study the scene in front of them: Julie sitting on the sofa, looking less than happy; Luke in the middle of the studio laughing madly to himself, a precariously piled plate swaying dangerously in one hand, his other hand clutched on his stomach.

“What is going on out here?” Alex asks.

“I… Julie… my god…” Luke stutters out between breaths.

Alex moves his glance from Luke to Julie and jerks his head in question. 

“Luke thinks he’s hilarious,” Julie says.

“Oh, yeah,” Reggie shrugs, smiling softly as Luke begins to hiccup, “he always does.”

“Well, here’s something that’s less funny,” Alex says, “I’ve just spoken to Flynn. She’ll be here in an hour to meet Julie.”

Julie and Luke freeze, turning to look at Alex bewildered.

“What? I thought it was better to get over and done with.”

Luke hiccups again, “thanks for the warning, man.”

Alex shrugs before grinning, “it’s fine. Reggie and I will carry you like we always do.”

Luke attempts to glare at him but hiccups three times in quick succession, somewhat ruining the intimidating effect of his expression.

Reggie steps forward, putting himself between Alex and Luke. “I think,” he says, “we should talk about what we’re going to sing for Flynn.”

Luke takes an aggressive bite of his sandwich before grabbing his notebook, gesturing for the band to gather around the piano; Julie sees a scraps of paper poking out of the journal and recognises them as suggestions she has given to Luke or parts of melodies they have worked on together. The scraps act as proof of Julie’s place in the band and the sight of them makes her heart clench pleasantly. 

“Right,” Luke says, tracing his finger down the list of songs, “what about if we perform…”

* * *

Julie pops around the studio, sliding her pendant around on her necklace, chewing her bottom lip as she does so. The three boys watch from their place on the sofa as Julie appears and disappears at random, her blipping becoming quicker as the time for Flynn’s arrival grows closer. 

“I think we broke Julie,” Reggie whispers as Julie appears again, balancing precariously on the edge of the piano top. 

“You can say that again,” Alex says, picking at the skin around his nails. “Just watching her is making me nervous.”

“There’s no need for you to be nervous, Alex. It’s just Flynn. We’ve played in front of Flynn hundreds of times,” Luke says. 

Alex shrugs, “I’m not nervous about that necessarily. I’m worried Julie’s going to blip so far she’ll get lost.”

“Ghosts can’t get lost can they?” Reggie says, a sudden panicked look in his eyes. “Julie will always be able to find her way back here, right?”

Alex places an arm around Reggie’s shoulders, murmuring reassuringly under his breath. Luke reaches across Alex’s lap and pats Reggie gently on the knee, “don’t worry, dude. Pretty sure once a ghost decides to haunt somewhere, you’re stuck with them.”

Luke narrows his eyes as he tracks the flickering figure of Julie, waiting for her to blaze back into the studio, this time halfway through the wall between the boy’s bedroom and the music space, before shouting her name. 

Julie startles, popping out of existence again.

Alex turns towards Luke accusingly, “what did you do that for?”

Luke shrugs, “she needed to be snapped out of it. It works for you when you start spiralling.”

“I do not spiral,” Alex says. 

Reggie and Luke share a look, pointedly avoiding Alex’s protesting. The boys fall silent again, Alex still has an arm around Reggie’s shoulders and Luke bumps his knee against Alex’s.

Eventually, what feels like an eternity later, a stiller Julie blazes in, landing softly on the chair opposite the sofa where the boys sit. She is still sliding her pendant back and forth, and her leg bounces wildly but she manages to remain opaque so the boys relax a little. 

“Jules… Julie… hey… Molina!”

Julie jerks her head up at Luke’s sharp tone, blinking rapidly, bracing as if to blink away again.

Alex places a hand on Luke’s leg, “gently, man.” He turns his attention back to Julie, “you okay, Julie?”

Julie nods, biting her lip. When Alex, Reggie and Luke all quirk an eyebrow at her (they do this in perfect sync, Julie notices in disbelief), she raises a shaky hand to give them a thumbs up.

“You know it’ll be fine, right?” Alex says.

“Yeah,” Reggie adds, “Flynn’s going to be fine with you. She already knows you can sing.”

Julie nods jerkily, “yeah, but you said she was angry with you and then she didn’t exactly sound keen on the phone and I don’t want to get between you and your friend.”

Alex pauses for a moment, taking a long look over Julie’s tense form - he can feel the anxiety rolling off of her in waves. “Flynn’s just-” Alex pauses to search for the right word- “a little dramatic? She’s a very literal person who will fight about the colour of the sky if the mood strikes her.”

“Remember when she tried to argue with Luke about the best way to put on a bra?”

Luke snorts, shaking his head fondly, “she was so upset with me when I wouldn’t argue back.”

“And then we had that three-hour debate about how baguette’s would move if they could.”

Alex, Reggie and Luke grin at each other, each getting a faraway look in their eye as they reminisce. 

Julie watches the boys for another moment, their faith in Flynn accepting her has settled her nerves a little but she is still nervous. Her leg still bounces but more slowly and she finally releases her bottom lip from her teeth. Julie takes several deep breaths, in through her nose, out through her mouth just like her mum had always told her to do. 

A companionable silence washes over the four teenagers. It is soothing and pleasant for the short time it lasts. A few moments later, a knock on the studio door breaks the boys out of their reverie, Julie’s muscle tense.

The boys stand. Reggie and Alex make their way to their instruments, smiling reassuringly at Julie as they pass her; Luke heads towards the door, sliding it open revealing Flynn, who is pretending to examine her fingernails, heart shaped sunglasses over her face.

“Since when do you knock?” Luke asks as he stands back with a sweeping gesture, inviting Flynn into the studio.

Flynn steps carefully around Luke, slowly dragging her sunglasses up to sit on the top of her head. “The manager always knocks.”

Luke catches Reggie’s gaze and they both roll their eyes, Alex lets out a quiet sigh.

“Managers might but friends don’t,” Luke says.

“Always so dramatic,” Alex mutters.

“Friends don’t lie to each other and then try and sell some bullshit story about how the band now has a ghost member.”

Julie blanches, leaning back in her seat at the ice in Flynn’s tone. Luke laughs it off; Alex and Reggie grin but look less sure than their guitarist.

“Flynn,” Luke says, “we are not lying to you about the ghost. She’s called Julie and she can hear you, so be nice.”

Flynn waves her hand and rolls her eyes, “I’ll be nice to your delusion but once I’m proved right, you three are so going to see Dr. Turner.”

Alex places his drumsticks into his hands and gets himself into position, “well, you’d better move out of the way then, Flynn. Give us a chance to prove it to you before you go spending all of the band’s money on unnecessary therapy.”

Flynn quirks an eyebrow but moves to the spot Reggie gestures to. She takes her phone out of her pocket and begins tapping through it.

The boys sigh but choose to ignore Flynn’s pointed disregard for their demonstration. Luke looks to Alex, Reggie and Julie, when they all nod (Julie more reluctantly than the others), Luke counts them in and the band play their first notes. Gingerly, Julie presses the chords on her keyboard, the sound ringing out but not doing enough to make Julie visible to Flynn, if the other girl’s continued stony expression is anything to go by. 

The song continues, Julie plays more and more notes before finally opening her mouth to sing and, simultaneously, blazing into sight. Flynn stumbles backwards and ends up, on her back, beetle-like, on the sofa, her eyes widening almost comically.

_If I leave you on a bad note_

_Leave you on a sad note_

_Guess that means I'm buying lunch that day_

_I know all your secrets_

_You know all my deep-dish_

_Guess that means some things they never_

The song is something Julie has been playing with for a while now, basing it off her own friendships from her short life; Luke had then added some lyrics of his own using his experiences lamenting various falling outs with Bobby and Flynn. The pair worked together to build the melody to accompany the lyrics and, although not like any of the other songs they have written, Julie and Luke are pleased with the product. Julie knows that the song is something she could have easily sung to Nick but it works just as well at this moment, judging by the increasingly happy expression on Flynn’s face.

_They never change_

_We both know what I, what I_

_What I mean_

_When I look at you, it's like I'm looking at me_

_My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo_

_My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you_

Julie jerks her head towards Luke and he takes over the singing, leaving Julie free to introduce herself to a stunned looking Flynn.

“Hi,” Julie says, pressing piano keys with one hand and giving a short wave with the other, “I’m Julie, the ghost singer.”

“I think your crazy is catching,” Flynn says, looking over Julie’s shoulder to where Alex, Luke and Reggie continue to play. “I could swear I just saw a whole, stupid-cute person appear out of thin air-” she pauses as Julie begins to laugh- “and now the ghost is laughing at me.”

“Yeah,” Reggie says, speaking into his microphone during a lull in the song, “she’ll do that when you’re being stupid.”

Julie rolls her eyes fondly before turning her attention back to Flynn, “I can confirm that you’re not going crazy. Although, maybe hearing that from the potentially hallucinated ghost girl isn’t as reassuring as it could be.”

Flynn snorts, shaking her head, “no, not necessarily but since I can communicate with you, I’m going to embrace the chaos. Hi-” Flynn smiles warmly- “I’m Flynn, band manager of Sunset Curve.”

“Nice to meet you,” Julie says, “now, I hear you have strong opinions about how to put on a bra?”

Flynn laughs, flicking her braids over one shoulder to fix Julie with a look, half-grin spreading across her face, “girl, you have no idea.”

The pair continue conversing quickly, getting to know each other in the short time that is left of the song. As Luke sings the final lyrics and the melody dies, Julie flickers out of sight - well, out of Flynn’s vision, the boys can still see her clear as day - and Flynn blinks, the smile temporarily frozen on her face before it falls. 

“Well,” Flynn says, “that’s a disappointing turn of events.”

“Julie’s still here,” Reggie says, gesturing to where Julie stands. “She can still hear you, you just can’t see or hear her.”

Flynn frowns, creases appearing between her perfectly plucked brows, “that sucks though.”

“I know…” 

“Julie and I were going to shit talk about you guys. I mean, none of you understand how dumb you look.”

“When have we ever looked dumb?”

“24/7. You guys look dumb 100% of the time.”

Flynn grins broadly as Julie laughs, nodding earnestly.

Luke frowns, his expression so exaggerated he could be a cartoon. “Well-” he says, glancing sideways to where Julie is wiping tears from her face- “Julie thought that was accurate but we definitely don’t.”

“You boys have never appreciated my talents,” Flynn says airly, “clearly Julie is the only one here with taste.”

“I agree,” Julie says.

“You shut up,” Luke says, pointing at Julie. He turns his attention to Alex and Reggie, “I think we might have made a mistake by introducing these two.”

Flynn and Julie grin at the boys simultaneously. 

“Look,” Reggie whispers, “they’re already doing things at the same time.”

Flynn and Julie both raise their eyebrows. 

“Stop it! That’s spooky shit.”

Flynn snorts, “you’re literally friends with a ghost, Reg.”

“Anyway,” Alex interrupts before the argument can spiral any further, “now you’ve seen we’re not lying, are we forgiven?”

“I was never really that angry.”

“You could have fooled me,” Reggie mumbles.

“Fine. Yes, I was a little-” Flynn holds up some closely pinched fingers- ”angry but I am a professional so I got over your betrayal.”

Julie snorts, “you were so right about her being dramatic.”

Alex turns to Julie, “told you so.”

“What did I miss?”

“Nothing!” Julie, Alex, Reggie and Luke say simultaneously.

Flynn’s eyes start to narrow suspiciously, Julie whips back to Alex, “ask her if she’s got any ideas for new band names!”

“Good idea,” Alex says. “Hey Flynn, we were thinking we need to rename the band now that Julie’s here. You got any bright ideas?”

Flynn’s expression relaxes and she begins to smile, “I don’t but I’m sure I will. You have come to the correct person for the job.”

With that, Flynn turns on her heel and heads for the studio door, mumbling under her breath. She waves briefly, smiling at all of the boys before disappearing out of the door, not bothering to slide it shut behind her.

“And that’s Flynn,” Reggie says, walking after her to close the studio door.

“She’s amazing,” Julie says, still reeling from the meeting.

The boys all nod their agreement, circling back to their original positions to play their next song, all nervous energy gone. Julie shares one final smile with her bandmates before Alex hits his sticks together and counts them in.

“A one, two, a one, two, three, four....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was so stubborn and definitely did not want to make it's way from my brain into written form. i'm pretty happy with how it turned out regardless but yeah, it was a bit of a tough one to write. 
> 
> hopefully, it was worth that wait and you still enjoy it! i'm glad we've finally got flynn involved and i really enjoyed writing the caleb scene too - he's a bit creepier than he is in the show, but i think it works. i hope you all enjoy this chapter :)
> 
> p.s. i have started writing another fic (which might also be why this one was so tricky to write but anyway) so i am excited about that. i think i'm going to write that whole story first before uploading it rather than writing it chapter by chapter like this one so you probably won't see it for a while. anyway, just though i should let you all know.
> 
> p.p.s. thank you all for your ongoing support! your kudos make my whole day and all the wonderful comments you leave literally make me want to cry, they're so lovely! without you all i would have definitely given up on this story before now so thank you again for everything. you lots are the absolute best!

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for any rust that comes through in my writing - i haven't written anything for a couple of years now! i hope you enjoyed this regardless.
> 
> come find me on tumblr at julie-molinas :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Julie, the Phantom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099071) by [Nakiju](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakiju/pseuds/Nakiju)




End file.
